I need a Doctor
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: Glee/Dr who crossover but you don't really need to watch Doctor who to read the fic. An unexpected guest shows up at McKinley High. What happens when he meets Santana and finds out that the fabric of reality has been altered? Faberry/Brittana FORMAT FIXED
1. Chapter 1

**Title: I need a Doctor  
>Summary: GleeDoctor who crossover. You don't need to watch Doctor who to read the fic…everything will be explained (but if there's anything you want to know feel free to ask and I'll answer). An unexpected guest shows up at McKinley High. What happens when he meets Santana Lopez and finds out that the very fabric of reality has been altered? The title (and the lyrics) are from the song 'I need a doctor' by Dr Dre ft Eminem and Skylar Grey.  
>Pairing(s): BrittanySantana, Quinn/Rachel, Rose/Ten, Santana/Ten friendship, Brittany/Santana/Quinn friendship, Brittany/Rachel friendship.  
>Rating: R15**

**A/N: Reuploaded due to formatting error. **

_I'm about to lose my mind  
>you've been gone for so long<br>I'm running out of time  
>I need a doctor<br>call me a doctor  
>I need a doctor, doctor<br>to bring me back to life  
><em>  
><span>Chapter 1<span>  
>Santana Lopez peeked around the corner, her eyes instantly finding the person she was looking for. Brittany was standing at the end of the corridor, looking somewhat lost and confused. That coupled with the way she was clutching at the straps on her backpack made Santana think of a younger Brittany, on their first day of school together. When they had first met…only hours after which Brittany had declared them BFF's. Santana sighed sadly at the thought and whirled around, fully intending to stalk back down the corridor she had come from. As soon as she had spun around however, she collided with somebody's chest. She jumped back in shock, having been unaware of anyone walking up behind her "Hey! Watch it!"<p>

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she heard a male voice with a distinctively British accent cheerfully exclaim "I didn't mean to startle you."

Santana rubbed her slightly sore forehead with the palm of her hand and took a moment to study the man in front of her. He was tall with dark hair which was spiked up in a way that seemed impossible and was dressed in a pinstripe suit, over which he was wearing a tan ankle length coat. Santana glanced down and noticed he was wearing red converse on his feet.

"Are you scanning me?"

"What?" Santana looked up to see the strange man was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Nevermind." The man waved his hand dismissively. He rubbed his head and glanced around before refocusing on Santana "It seems that my ship has crash landed here. Interesting."

"What?" Santana repeated, looking rather confused.

"My ship." The man gestured over his shoulder to where a blue police box stood in the middle of the corridor. Santana blinked at the large blue box, wondering how she had missed it when she had walked down the corridor only a few minutes before "I was in the midst of battle with a family of outlawed Raxacoricofallapatorians. Typically they were planning to annihilate the human race yet again and I was trying to put a stop to it when there was some kind of explosion and I was hurled back into the TARDIS…I almost ended up in the swimming pool…Would have done if I hadn't hung onto the central controls." He rubbed the back of his head as if he was injured "You didn't happen to call for me, did you?"

"_What?_" Santana asked again sounding completely confused by the Doctor's statement.

"Oh…I do that sometimes." The man grinned randomly "The repetition of 'what' three times…Rose finds it somewhat annoying." Seemingly noticing Santana's stunned expression, he continued quickly "Oh…Where are my manners?" He held out his hand "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" Santana asked, tentatively shaking the offered hand.

"Just the Doctor."

"You don't have a name?" Santana frowned perplexedly.

"Yes, it's the Doctor."

"Are you a sub or something?" Santana tilted her head to the side in contemplation.

"If you want me to be." The Doctor grinned.

"Are you hitting on me?"

"No!" The man shook his head quickly "You're human."

"You say that like you're _not _human." Santana stated thoughtfully "Like there's something _I _could be _other_than human."

"Oh, I like you." The Doctor smiled warmly, seeming rather pleased at Santana's insight "I'm sorry…I didn't catch your name...?"

"Santana." Santana answered instantly "Santana Lopez."

"Brilliant name!" the Doctor exclaimed happily. Santana briefly wondered if he was so hyper and cheerful all of the time "Now Santana Lopez…Would you mind telling me my location and the exact date?"

Santana was a bit confused but the request seemed harmless enough so she answered without hesitation "Well you're in Lima, Ohio and the date is…the 28th of November 2011."

"Of course…" the Doctor slapped his forehead as if he had forgotten something "I'm in America. We received a call from here a while ago but I assumed it wasn't important…Certainly not important enough for somebody to physically drag us here through time and space." He paused, his expression troubled "That shouldn't even be physically possible…Nobody should be able to control the TARDIS but me."

"What are you going on about?" Santana asked cluelessly "What the hell is a TARDIS?"

"That's my TARDIS." The Doctor motioned to the blue box "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"Oh…Okay, sure." Santana muttered "Well…Um…I have to go to Glee club now. I'm late."

"Glee club?" The Doctor echoed questioningly.

"Yeah…It's a choir kind of thing." Santana answered sheepishly as she started to back away.

"Oh, I always loved a good sing along!" The Doctor grinned excitedly "Mind if I join you?"

Santana looked sceptical for a moment before she shrugged in response. Despite the fact that the man seemed rather nuts, there was something strangely trustworthy about him. "Sure, I guess…"

"Great!" he exclaimed, moving to walk at her side "I find it fascinating to watch the behaviours of different species and cultures, though I must admit it seems that I spend more time around humans than I do any other species. Perhaps because your behaviour intrigues me in a way that not many other life forms do. You're all so unique and…"

"God, you sound like Berry." Santana muttered, rolling her eyes at the man.

"A fruit?" the Doctor questioned "I sound like a talking fruit? Hmmm…I've only encountered a couple of cases of talking fruit and both times unnatural forces were involved. Never Berries though."

"You're really weird." Santana observed.

"Thank you!"

Santana rolled her eyes at the Doctor's admittedly rather endearing grin "You said 'us' before…what did you mean?"  
>"My companion was rendered unconscious by the explosion." The Doctor explained, glancing in her direction "She's fine but I decided to let her sleep it off in the TARDIS. I left her a note in case she wakes up before I return."<p>

"Huh." Santana nodded as she walked through the door into the choir room.

"Santana, you're late again." Mr Schue said in his best attempt at a stern tone.

"Yeah, well be grateful I came." Santana scowled before looking around for Brittany. She found her, sitting next to Quinn near the back and quickly looked away.

"And you are…?" Mr Schue moved warily over to Santana and the Doctor.

"The Doctor!" the Doctor exclaimed, holding his hand out for Mr Schuester to shake "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um…Likewise." Mr Schue awkwardly shook the man's hand "I'm sorry…Was there something you needed?"

"I work for the GCI." The Doctor replied, pulling what looked like a black leather ID holder out of his pocket and flipping it open "I came to inspect your Glee club if that's okay. Unofficial visit…nothing serious."

"Oh. Well…yes, of course."

"Thank you." The Doctor grinned before turning to whisper to Santana "Mind if I sit with you? Your fellow students seem to be gawping at me and I'm afraid if I sit near any of them they may have a heart attack."

Santana shot the Doctor a small smile and nodded "Sure, follow me." She proceeded to turn on the spot and walked to the two empty seats next to Quinn and Brittany. She sat down next to Quinn, vaguely aware of the Doctor taking a seat next to her.

"Hello." The Doctor grinned as he leaned forward slightly in his seat to look at the two blonde's "I'm the Doctor."

"Quinn Fabray." Quinn nodded in the Doctor's direction.

"Hi!" Brittany exclaimed brightly as she offered a small wave "I'm Brittany."

"Brittany…" the Doctor mused quietly "Sounds familiar…Brittany spelt with two T's and an A?"

"Yeah." Brittany nodded in response "Not like Britney spears…That is my name though. Brittany …Brittany Spierce."

"New boyfriend of the week or something?" Quinn whispered in Santana's ear as the Doctor nodded along, seeming genuinely interested by Brittany's comment "He looks a bit old for you San."

Santana shoved Quinn away with a scowl "No! I just met him on my way here. He asked if he could tag along and I said yes."

"If you say so." Quinn muttered before sinking back into her seat, not really focusing on whatever Mr Schue was talking about. She glanced over at the strange man and found he wasn't really paying much attention to the teacher at the front either. Instead he was glancing around the room as if searching for something. Quinn quickly shrugged the thought off and looked back towards the front of the class, silently wishing that the minutes would tick by faster.  
>When the bell finally rang, everybody with the exception of Quinn and Brittany who were waiting for Santana (Who was for some reason waiting for the Doctor) and Rachel and Finn walked out.<p>

Rachel stood up and turned around to beam at the newcomer "Hello, I'm Rachel Berry, the lead female vocalist of the Glee club. This…" she tugged Finn to his feet "Is Finn Hudson, my boyfriend and the lead male vocalist."

"Rachel Berry…" the Doctor mulled over the name carefully as if trying to remember where he had heard it before "Rachel Berry, Rachel Berry, Rachel…Oh!" his eyes widened in realisation and he quickly stood up, practically bouncing down the steps to meet the suddenly stunned looking brunette "Rachel Berry, Broadway extraordinaire…" he grasped Rachel's hand and shook it firmly "It's such a pleasure to meet you."

"Um…" for once Rachel found herself rendered utterly speechless "Likewise. Mr…?"

"Doctor." The Doctor smiled "Just the Doctor."

"You said Broadway extraordinaire." Rachel informed him thoughtfully "Though I have no doubts that someday I will not only make it but excel on Broadway I'm slightly confused as to how you seem so sure that that's what I'm going to do…?"

"Ooops." The Doctor grimaced sheepishly "Spoilers."

"This guy is a fruit loop." Quinn muttered under her breath "Where the heck did you find him, San?"

Santana shrugged, too focused on the interaction playing out in front of them to pay much attention.

"Spoilers?" Rachel echoed "What does that mean?"

"It means we can't carry on this line of conversation." The man answered "However I believe a discussion on the topic of musicals would be rather intriguing."

"You want to talk about musicals?" Rachel asked her eyes wide in surprise. None of her boyfriends or friends with the exception of Kurt had ever willingly talked about musicals with her. Finn put up with the occasional discussion but Rachel got the feeling he wasn't at all interested in what she was actually saying and just listened because he felt obliged to "With me?"

"Certainly." The Doctor nodded "But first I have…" he paused for a moment as his gaze lingered on Finn "Wait…Did you say this is your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I am." Finn wrapped an arm possessively around Rachel's shoulders and gave the Doctor a back off look.  
>"Interesting." The Doctor muttered to himself as he glanced to Quinn then back at Finn "Finn…Quinn. Quinn…Finn. The names sound similar but they're significantly different. I'm sure I remember reading…yes, this isn't right."<p>

"He's nuts." Quinn informed Santana "Why was he saying my name like that?"

Santana shrugged "I kind of like him."

The Doctor pulled something out of his pocket and pointed it at Finn. He pressed a button and a high pitched sound emanated along with a blue light, causing Finn to take a step back.

"What is that?"

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor answered, tapping the side of the device as if it wasn't working properly "It says you're human but that's just not possible. You're not meant to be here."

"_What_?" Finn exclaimed, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"If you'll excuse me I have to go and deal with some business now." The Doctor stated, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on Rachel and Finn. He spun around and walked to the door but when he reached it he stopped and turned back to the room "Would you care to join me Santana Lopez?"

"Um…" Santana glanced at Quinn who frowned at her and Brittany who stared at her hopefully "Sure."

"_Santana_!" Quinn hissed, grabbing her friends wrist "Are you crazy? This guy could be a serial killer or something."  
>Santana rolled her eyes and shook off Quinn's hand "He's not a serial killer." She glanced at Brittany and felt her heart plummet upon noticing the blondes' disappointed expression "I'll see you guys later."<p>

"Santana!" Quinn called after the girl but to no avail as she was already jogging over to the Doctor and a moment later, walking out of the room with him "She _never_listens."

"Who was that?" Finn frowned, staring at the door Santana and the Doctor had walked out of "And what's his deal with Santana?"

"He seems nice." Rachel offered with a shrug of her argyle clad shoulders "And he clearly recognises talent when he sees it."

Quinn glanced at Brittany to see the usually bubbly girl was staring at the doorway with a downtrodden expression on her face "Hey Britt, do you want to get out of here? We could get a milkshake or something."

Brittany visibly brightened at the suggestion "Sure! Hey Rachel, do you want to come along? Q, you don't mind if Rachel comes with us, do you?"

Quinn gritted her teeth but shook her head.

"I'm not sure I can Brittany." Rachel held onto Finn's arm a little bit tighter "Finn and I have a thing…Don't we Finn?"  
>Quinn rolled her eyes at Rachel's obvious lie "Berry, if you don't want to come just say so. It's not like I want to sit through one of your Barbra Streisand rants anyway."<p>

"It's not that I don't want to." Rachel responded quickly "It's just that it would be rather rude of me to leave Finn by himself."

"Um…Rach?" Finn spoke up nervously "I have a guy thing with Sam and Puck tonight so I'm not going to be around."

"A guy thing?" Rachel questioned "Why didn't you saying anything before?"

"Just playing COD." Finn answered, removing his arm from around Rachel's shoulders "I forgot about it until…"

Quinn exhaled impatiently and grabbed Brittany's hand, pulling her lightly towards the door "We don't have all day. Are you coming or not Berry?"

"Well…Okay." Rachel nodded and leaned up to kiss Finn's cheek "I'll see you tomorrow Finn."

"I'll call you later!" Finn called as he watched Rachel walk out of the room with Brittany and Quinn.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX  
><strong>  
>Santana glanced at the grinning man she was walking next to and shook her head "I must be crazy." She muttered to herself.<p>

"Why is that?" The Doctor asked curiously.

Santana raised an eyebrow, having expected the Doctor to miss her mutter due to the low level of her voice "I don't even know you yet here I am trailing after you like a lost puppy." She shook her head in disgust "That's not something I do. Ever. And Quinn's right…you could be a serial killer for all I know."

"I'm definitely not a serial killer."

Santana scoffed, though she couldn't help but believe what he said.

"And if it helps…" the Doctor added as they continued to walk down the corridor "I think I have some idea as to why you're 'trailing after me like a lost puppy' as you put it."

Santana was about to question him when they turned the corner and she caught sight of the large blue box from earlier "Why are we back here?"

"I figured Rose would be getting worried." The Doctor answered as they approached the police box. He stopped just next to it, his hand on the door "I suggest that you prepare yourself."

Santana frowned at the statement as she watched him push open the door and step inside. She quickly shrugged it off and trustingly followed him into what she presumed would be an uncomfortably enclosed space. That most definitely wasn't the case however and her eyes widened as she took in the sight in front of her. The interior of the supposedly small box was huge but the first thing Santana noticed was the flashing control area in the middle of the dome shaped room. She glanced at the walls and noticed dozens of doors lined along them.

"Doctor!" a female voice exclaimed, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. Santana turned just in time to see a blonde practically fly into the Doctor, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. A moment later the said blonde pulled away and slapped his arm "Are you mental? How could you just go off like that and leave me with a stupid note to explain where you were?" she held up a note, an obviously annoyed expression on her face "Anything could've happened!"

"Ow." The Doctor rubbed his arm and smiled fondly at his companion "Sorry. I thought you might want to sleep after the crash." He placed his fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head to the side to assess the small cut he knew to be on the side of her head.

The blonde huffed but seemed calmed by the reassuring touch.

"Fuck…" Santana muttered, shaking her head and blinking as if to take away what she was seeing "This is…it's…"

"Bigger on the inside!" The Doctor exclaimed with a grin as he turned to face the young Latina "I did tell you to prepare yourself."

Santana nodded numbly and glanced around at the impossible space.

"Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed as if remembering something "Santana Lopez...meet Rose."

Santana looked back to the blonde, offering a shaky smile "Hey."

"Hello." Rose returned the smile, though she looked somewhat befuddled by Santana's presence "Erm…Doctor? Can I speak to you over here for a minute?" she motioned towards the control panel in the middle of the TARDIS.

"Yep!" the Doctor nodded and followed Rose to where she had been pointing. He blinked innocently when she turned and gave him a look "What?"

"Why is she in the TARDIS?" Rose asked, sparing Santana a quick glance before looking back to the Doctor "Is she in danger? Did I _miss _something?"

The Doctor smiled and shook his head "She's not in danger but we've crash landed in a…_high school_. I believe that's the correct term in America."

"We're in America?" Rose visibly brightened at the statement "Like…New New York?"

"Sadly just 'old America'...Ohio apparently." The Doctor answered "According to Santana Lopez over there, it's 2011 right now."

"Only a couple of years in the future." Rose surmised thoughtfully.

"I'm assuming that this is where the call for help came from." The Doctor stepped towards the TARDIS and pressed a couple of buttons on the control panel "If I can find the exact coordinates and match them up to the apparent date today, I should be able to…" he paused and pressed a key, his brow furrowed in concentration "Yes, the distress call definitely came from here. It was made a few months ago according to this." He pointed at the monitor and tutted at himself "I'm always late…"

"So what's with the girl?" Rose asked cautiously.

"I have a feeling that she's the one who made the call, though it may have been completely unintentional…She certainly seems like she needs some kind of help."

Rose turned to study the teenager who was standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, alternating between taking steps in and steps out. She watched as with a shake of her head, the Latina stepped back inside and closed the door "So what do you think?"

Santana looked around for a moment before settling on an answer "It's definitely bigger on the inside."  
><strong>TBC? :**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for all of your reviews. I really appreciate them. Hope you all enjoy this chapter! (as usual any spelling mistakes are my own) :)**

**Warning: Swearing**.

**Chapter 2**

"And…I need to sit down." Santana announced shakily.

The Doctor and Rose instantly sprang into action, surging forward to grasp Santana's arms in case she fainted. They led her over to the white chair next to the central controls and sat her down.

"Can I get you anything?" Rose asked, noting that Santana had turned slightly pale "A cuppa maybe?"

"A what?" Santana asked, looking confused.

"You'll have to excuse her…She's British." The Doctor chuckled at his companion "She means would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oi!" Rose exclaimed, slightly offended "So are you."

"I'm _not_ British."

"You have a southern accent!" Rose pointed out.

"As I've already told you lots of planets have a south." The Doctor countered "Anyway, I believe I got this accent from _you_ when I was regenerating."

Rose was about to open her mouth to retort when Santana held her hand up "Wait, What? Planets? Regenerating? What are you talking about? And how is this phone box-"

"Police call box." The Doctor corrected.

"Whatever." Santana waved his correction off "How is it bigger on the inside?"

"It's alien."

"I'm standing inside an alien?" Santana asked sceptically.

"You're actually sitting…and it's not _an_ alien." The Doctor responded "Alien as in extra-terrestrial. It was grown on my home planet."

"So you're saying…you're an alien?"

"Time Lord." The Doctor answered proudly, though through her shock Santana noticed the hint of sadness in his eyes at the mention of what he was.

"And…you?" Santana questioned looking towards Rose "I suppose you're going to tell me you're an alien too, right?"

"I'm human." Rose answered "I choose to travel with him." She lightly bumped the Doctor with her shoulder and offered him a wide grin which was quickly returned.

"This is…" Santana laughed humourlessly and placed a hand on her forehead "This is crazy."

"Perhaps." The Doctor nodded "But it doesn't make it any less real."

"So you're saying…there are aliens out there?" Santana asked for clarification "And you're…an alien. Who comes from another planet."

"Exactly!" the Doctor answered "I don't know why you're so surprised about the existence of 'aliens'…Don't you remember the Daleks over London? The gas from the cars? The Christmas star?"

"I have…no idea what you're talking about." Santana answered cautiously "And I'm starting to think you're _really_ insane."

"Doctor, why doesn't she remember?" Rose asked nervously, her gaze fixated on Santana "Everything that happened back home was broadcast all over the world. And even if she never watched any kind of news…those cars were everywhere."

"I'm not sure." The Doctor stated gravely.

Santana titled her head to the side in contemplation "You look human."

"Correction: You look Time lord. My kind was alive long before humans."

Santana blinked at the statement "Okay. So this is your spaceship?"

"Time machine." The Doctor corrected, idly running his hand over the set of controls next to him "This is my TARDIS. Time and relative dimensions in space."

Santana nodded, recalling that being mentioned before "So if I didn't believe you and I wanted proof…"

"Just name a time and a place…or a planet." The Doctor grinned "I can have you back here two minutes from now."

"I think I know where I want to go." Santana answered cautiously. She paused for a moment, wondering if it was such a good idea to go back to the date she had in mind but quickly shrugged it off "September 22nd 1999. Around 12:00pm I guess."

"I assume we're following _your_ timeline?" The Doctor asked as he turned to his controls.

"Yeah."

"Okay…You might want to hold on." The Doctor warned before he proceeded to walk around the central control area, pushing a series of buttons and pulling levers as he did so. It was clear from where Santana was sitting that the Doctor was attached to the machine he was handling with practiced ease. It was even clearer that the girl she now knew to be Rose adored the exuberant Doctor. The blonde was watching the 'man' work with a mixture of adoration and sadness in her dark eyes.

"3…2…1!" the Doctor exclaimed.

Santana glanced at him just in time to see him pull a large lever. The whole TARDIS rocked and Santana scrambled to hold onto to the closest railing. The subtle buzz of the engine from moments ago grew until it turned into a loud kind of 'schwoop'-ing noise. After a few moments of Santana practically hugging the railing for dear life, the TARDIS began to slow down and the noise decreased back into the soothing buzz from before.

"You okay?" Rose asked quietly, suddenly right next to her again.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Santana muttered, shifting her hand to her churning stomach.

Rose smiled at the statement and patted the younger girl's shoulder "You get used to that after a while."

Santana nodded and shakily stood up "So are we there?"

"We certainly are!" The Doctor exclaimed brightly from next to the TARDIS door. He opened it and walked out, motioning for them to follow him. Santana glanced at the blonde next to her before hesitantly trailing after the Doctor. She sucked in a sharp breath when she walked through the door to find they were no longer in the middle of the school corridor but rather outside, in a place she vaguely recognised "Whoa…"

"I believe what you're looking for is right around the corner." The Doctor stated, pointing to the corner just ahead of them.

Santana glanced at the Doctor to see he was giving her an understanding look. She nodded at him before starting a slow walk to the corner in question. She was vaguely aware of the Doctor and Rose walking behind her but she was more focused on the fast, expectant thud of her heart against her chest. Reaching the wall she took a deep breath, trying to supress the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. She quickly sidestepped so she could see beyond the wall and gasped out loud at what she saw "Holy fuck…" she stumbled back a step, only to find the Doctor's hands on her back, holding her steady "This is…this isn't possible." She shook her head and blinked rapidly at the sight of the small child of about 5 years old playing alone in the sandpit.

"I suppose you know her?" Rose whispered, her own eyes glued to the small blonde girl in the sandpit.

"More than I know myself." Santana whispered, leaning her head against the stone wall to watch. There was a moment of just watching the small girl before a boy about the same age as her stormed up and snatched the small spade out of her hand.

"Puck…" Santana muttered to herself with a shake of her head "Always trying to use what's hers…" she fell into silence as little Brittany stood up, her hands on her hips and an indignant look on her face. It was clear from where they were standing that the small blonde was demanding the boy give the spade back. He merely shook his head and laughed. Santana felt a slight ache in her chest as little Brittany's bottom lip began to tremble and a second later tears were rolling down the 5 year olds face. Santana inhaled slowly and idly rubbed her chest, vaguely recalling feeling the same way when she first witnessed the sight of little Brittany's tears. She straightened up at the thought and looked around, her gaze coming to rest on a small Latina a few metres away. The girl was watching the scene intently; her expression a mixture of troubled and annoyed. Santana's gaze snapped back to little Brittany in time to see her try to take the spade from the younger version of Puck only to be shoved back into the sand. The blonde promptly burst into tears and a second later little Santana was on her feet, marching to the sandpit. When she got to it she snatched the spade from the boys hand and threw her whole body weight into shoving him backwards. He stumbled back a step and fell over the side of the sandpit, landing on his backside. Little Santana glared at him until he cursed at her and ran off to the swings. With a triumphant smirk the Latina turned to the blonde and knelt down next to her, saying something that Santana couldn't hear. She leaned further out from behind the wall and watched as little Brittany's tear stained face lit up with a grin as she replied to whatever the other girl had said. A minute or two later both small girls jumped as a whistle was blown, signalling their break was over. Little Brittany stood up and brushed herself off before tentatively offering up her pinkie to little Santana. Santana watched as her past self-hesitated for a minute before the blonde said something.

"It's special." Santana whispered Brittany's words to herself "Just for us…" she watched as little Santana smiled at the statement and linked her pinkie with little Brittany's. Santana glanced down at her suddenly tingling pinkie before looking back up at the scene in front of her. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened as the small blonde looked up and met her eyes. Santana took an instinctive step forward at the sight of familiar ocean blue eyes only to find herself pulled gently back.

"You can't." the Doctor whispered.

Santana swallowed heavily and kept her gazed trained on the slightly confused looking little Brittany's. A moment later however, her younger self was gently dragging the blonde back to the school.

"Are you okay?"

Santana felt a hand on her shoulder and vaguely recognised Rose's voice. She felt wetness on her cheeks and realised she had shed silent tears during the short exchange. She quickly lifted her hand and wiped the tears away before giving a short nod "Can you take me home?"

"Of course." The Doctor nodded and squeezed Santana's shoulder. He watched her begin the walk to the TARDIS before turning back to the playground. His brow furrowed thoughtfully as he watched a different blonde and brunette lingering on the outskirts of the group, giggling softly "Interesting…"

**xXQRBSQRBSXx**

Quinn glanced around the table at her two companions. Brittany was sitting on her left, idly playing with the straw in her strawberry milkshake while directly across from her, Rachel sipped idly at her soy milkshake. Quinn sighed irritably into the silence. She had been depending on Brittany to start the conversation but apparently the other blonde was too lost in her own thoughts.

"So…" Quinn leaned forward slightly "What are you drinking?"

Rachel looked slightly bemused by the suddenness of the question but she answered anyway "Very berry milkshake. Made with soy milk and soy ice cream of course since as I'm sure you know I'm vegan and I don't eat or drink anything that comes from ani…"

"Alright." Quinn interrupted with a roll of her eyes "I don't need your life story. I'm sure I'll read all about it in your auto-biography or whatever."

Rachel nodded and sank back into her seat, somewhat dejectedly.

For a reason unknown to herself Quinn couldn't help but feel bad about putting the disappointed look on Rachel's face. She sighed and tried again to make conversation with the brunette "What does it taste like? 'Soy' milkshake?"

Rachel brightened up when Quinn started talking to her again. Trying as hard as she could to keep her sentences as simple as possible so as not to annoy the ex-cheerio , she pushed the glass in front of her forward by a couple of centimetres.

"You can try it if you want."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at the offer but after only a moment of hesitation, she leaned across the table and took Rachel's straw between her lips, tentatively sucking the drink into her mouth.

Rachel swallowed heavily and looked away from Quinn's intent eye contact. After a moment the blonde pulled back and sat back in her seat, a thoughtful expression on her face "Not bad."

Rachel grinned and pulled the milkshake back, taking a quick sip. For some reason she was struck by the thought that it tasted better than before "I'm glad you approve."

Quinn tentatively returned the smile as they fell into a short silence.

After a couple of minutes Rachel caught Quinn's eye and nodded questioningly towards the unusually quiet blonde sitting between them.

Quinn glanced at Brittany to see she was thoughtfully biting her lip, her gaze fixed vacantly on the milkshake in front of her. Quinn frowned, feeling slightly guilty that she had ignored Brittany's silence for so long "Britt?" she tried, only to be met with silence. She reached forward and placed her hand on Brittany's arm "Brittany?"

"Hmm?" Brittany's gaze shot to Quinn as if she had forgotten that she wasn't alone "Oh…Sorry Q. What did you say?"

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, looking genuinely concerned by her friends' behaviour "You're not yourself today."

"Oh…" Brittany shrugged and attempted a smile that looked more like a grimace "I'm fine. I was just thinking about stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Just stuff." Brittany sighed and leaned her chin on her hand. She paused for a moment before speaking again "Do you think Santana's okay?"

Quinn blinked. The question was unexpected even though she had been wondering the same thing for a while "I'm sure she's fine Britt. You know Santana…"

"Yeah." Brittany muttered before looking back into the pink swirls of her milkshake.

Quinn glanced at Rachel, worry clear on her expression. She was about to voice her concerns when Brittany gasped in pain, her hand shooting to the left side of her chest. Quinn watched as Brittany leaned forward, her eyes shutting tightly "Britt?" she quickly stood up and placed her hand unsurely on Brittany's shoulder "Brittany, What's wrong?"

"Santana." Brittany whimpered softly, inhaling a sharp breath of air "She's…" she squeaked slightly as the same indescribable feeling washed over her. It wasn't exactly painful but it was strong and unlike anything she had ever felt before which made it rather uncomfortable. She breathed in slowly and bent at the waist as if that would make the sensation disappear. She was vaguely aware of hands on her shoulders but she was much too focused on breathing through the sensation to acknowledge it.

Quinn glanced at Rachel who was hovering next to Brittany's other side.

"Brittany?" Quinn ducked down to kneel next to Brittany. She reached up and placed her hand on Brittany's which was still pressed against her chest "Brittany, _look _at me!" she ordered firmly. She waited until Brittany's eyes fluttered open to meet hers before she continued "What's happening?"

"It's like I can feel her…see her." Brittany whispered. She shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the impossible image in her head.

"Hey, is she okay?" A male voice sounded from behind them "Should I call an ambulance or something?"

Quinn rolled her eyes agitatedly. She was about to spin around and tell the man to back off when Rachel cut in sharply.

"She's _fine_. She just needs some space."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at Rachel's surprisingly effective 'back the hell off' glower but her attention was drawn back to Brittany as she spoke up.

"It's gone." Brittany whispered, finally feeling like she was able to breathe again. She was slightly surprised that she missed the slightly uncomfortable sensation. With the feeling gone, all she felt was emptiness.

"Britt?" Quinn whispered worriedly as Brittany began to tear up "What's going on?"

"I miss her." Brittany admitted tearfully "I miss her so much Quinn."

Quinn sighed sadly at the sight of Brittany's heartbroken expression "Come on." She pulled Brittany gently up from her seat and wrapped an arm around her waist "We'll go to my house and watch…Monsters Inc." she nodded thoughtfully to herself. Monsters Inc. always made Brittany feel better when she was sick or sad and since Quinn's Mom was out for the night (as usual) Quinn could keep an eye on the taller blonde in case whatever happened before happened again. She glanced over at Rachel "Rachel, are you coming?"

Rachel had been intently observing the gentle way in which Quinn was handling Brittany so she startled slightly when she was addressed "_Me?_ I mean…yes, if that's okay with you." She beamed at the invitation and moved to Brittany's other side, placing a supportive hand on her arm.

**xXQRBSQRBSXx**

"Are we back?" Santana asked quietly as she loosened her death grip on the railing she had chosen to cling to for the journey back to the school.

"In a manner of speaking." The Doctor grinned, stepping away from the controls "I aimed for a janitors closet this time…I figured it would be less conspicuous than leaving the TARDIS in the middle of a hallway."

Santana silently nodded and moved to sit back on the white seat she had previously occupied "So you really are a…time lord."

"Yes." The Doctor answered simply "I am."

"Well…" Santana looked from the Doctor to Rose and back "What now?"

"Now…I need to ask you some questions if you don't mind."

Santana shrugged "Whatever. Go ahead."

"Rachel Berry…How long has she been with this 'Finn' boy?"

"Um…I don't know. A while." Santana answered "They have this stupid on/off relationship. There's a dramatic breakup and then they get back together…it's been like that since they started dating."

"Wait…who is Rachel Berry?" Rose asked, slightly confused.

"Just an annoying midget who goes to this school." Santana answered before the Doctor could.

"And Quinn?" The Doctor asked curiously "How does she fit into all of this?"

"Well…" Santana hesitated for a moment, wondering how much information she should disclose to two people she had just met. She met the Doctors eyes and she knew without a doubt she could trust him, though she wasn't sure how she knew "Cliff notes version? Quinn was dating Finn who actually liked Berry. Quinn got pregnant and told Finn the baby was his when it actually wasn't…Berry somehow found out and told him about it so Quinn and Finn broke up and he hooked up with Berry. Then they broke up and Berry hooked up with Jesse St Jackass. She broke up with him after a while because he turned her into a human omelette. And then a while after that she got back together with Finn but that didn't work out either so Finn broke up with her and got back together with Quinn. After prom he broke up with Q because he wanted to be with Berry. He kissed her on stage at sectionals royally screwing up our chances of winning and now they're back together."

"…Wow." Rose blinked "Sounds worse than an Eastenders storyline."

"I actually meant…What is Quinn's relationship with Rachel?" The Doctor spoke up.

"Oh…" Santana muttered, looking somewhat confused "Well Quinn used to hate her but that was because Berry wanted to hook up with Finnocence. Plus we were on the cheerios and she is one of the biggest losers in school…practically public property."

"And now?"

"Now, I guess Quinn tolerates her." Santana shrugged "Barely. They did perform a pretty kick ass duet earlier this year though."

"Interesting." The Doctor muttered to himself "Very interesting."

"Why is that interesting?" Santana asked suspiciously "And why are you asking so many questions about Q and Berry?"

"Just researching." The Doctor muttered idly "Getting the lay of the land." He looked pensive for a moment before he shook himself out of his stupor "So Santana Lopez…Is there anywhere we can take you? Home for instance?"

"Sure." Santana nodded, realising she should probably get back home "I'll just go get my stuff." She waited for a nod before she walked to the TARDIS door and silently slipped out.

"What are you thinking?" Rose grinned "That's your 'I'm thinking' face."

"I'm thinking I detect some kind of reality fault." The Doctor stated seriously. He waited for a beat before he returned his companions grin "Fixing this is going to be fun."

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Thanks again for all of your comments. I really appreciate them. I keep forgetting to mention this but this is set post season 4. I.e. the Martha and Donna stuff happened but the ten Duplicate kind of…fizzled out instead of sticking around so Rose was free to go with the Doctor. Also, the Master thing never happened (Obviously or ten would be…eleven). Probably not important yet but I just though you should know. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter (and I apologise in advance for the 90's pop infusion near the end but I mean…Billie Piper. This **_**is **_**a Glee crossover. (And have you **_**seen**_** the video?). I couldn't resist :)**

Chapter 3

"Brittany, please stop crying." Rachel pleaded rather pathetically with the bawling blonde sitting between herself and Quinn "I have ice cream." She hopefully offered up the tub of Ben and Jerry's New York super fudge chunk ice cream. Halfway through the movie which according to Quinn always made Brittany feel better the blonde had burst into tears, saying something about Sully (Which Rachel had come to know as the Big Blue furball in the movie) being comparable to Santana.

Quinn rolled her eyes at Rachel's statement as she soothingly rubbed Brittany's back, at a loss for what to do "She's not 12 Rachel."

Rachel huffed and sat back into a kneeling position on the couch "Can't you do something? You're her best friend!"

"Santana's her best friend." Quinn corrected sharply. She winced as the mention of Santana's name merely caused Brittany's sobs to grow in volume "And she's not here."

"Fine…_apart_ from Santana you're her best friend." Rachel corrected herself "Isn't there something you can do to calm her down?"

"I'm trying!" Quinn exclaimed defensively "You're not exactly being much help either!"

"Well if she doesn't stop crying soon she's going to make _me_ cry!" Rachel stated seriously. The sound of the blonde's broken-hearted sobs, coupled with the tears spilling down her cheeks was seriously making Rachel feel like she could join her at any second.

Quinn sighed and wrapped her arms around Brittany's shoulders, tugging her close "Hey, hey hey…Calm down Britt. You're going to make yourself sick…And I know that you hate throwing up."

Brittany responded by curling into Quinn, tucking her head under the other girl's chin "It _hurts_ Quinn."

Quinn glanced at Rachel over Brittany's head to see she actually _was_ starting to tear up a little bit. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the diva she offered Brittany a reassuring squeeze and began to comfortingly comb her fingers through her friend's hair "I know Britt."

Rachel watched intently for a couple of minutes as Quinn whispered soft shushing sounds and gently rocked back and forth. This was definitely a side to Quinn Fabray she hadn't seen before today.

"Rachel?"

Rachel was startled from her thoughts by Quinn's voice and quickly looked up. It didn't fail to occur to her that Quinn had begun to call her 'Rachel' as opposed to 'Berry' "Yes Quinn?"

"Switch places with me." Quinn ordered "I have to go get something."

"What?" Rachel's eyes widened at the request.

This time, Quinn couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes "Switch. Places. In case you didn't notice Brittany is hysterical over here. I can't just leave her like this…I know you're kind of socially inept but I assume you know how to hug someone?"

"Well, yes of course…" Rachel wrung her hands nervously "But I should point out that what you're doing right now is not so much hugging as _holding_ her. Which in my opinion is rather intimate and since I'm not exactly _friends_ with Brittany I have to wonder whether a similar position would be unco…"

"You know what? Whatever." Quinn interrupted with a sigh "Just hold her hand or something." She turned her attention to Brittany and began to carefully disentangle her from their embrace. She winced as she heard the blonde whimper slightly "Britt, I'm just going to get something, okay? Rachel will be right here with you. And I'll be back in a minute." There was a brief moment of silence before she felt the blonde nod against her chest. She took that as silent permission to pull away and stand up. She shot Rachel a purposeful look before leaving the room.

Rachel nervously chewed on her lip as she watched Brittany rub her eyes which were already puffy from all of the crying she had been doing "Are you okay…?"

Brittany sniffled a little "Mmhmn."

Despite her answer, Brittany's tears were still flowing freely and Rachel was struck by the realisation that she'd never seen anyone cry that much. The blonde seemed genuinely heartbroken. With that in mind, she reached out and tentatively rubbed Brittany's arm, hoping to provide some kind of comfort "Can I get you anything?"

Brittany shook her head in response.

Rachel sighed at the sight of the blondes tears "Do you need a hug? I've been informed on numerous occasions that my hugs are quite satisfactory."

Brittany's brow furrowed slightly at Rachel's statement but she nodded her assent.

Rachel shifted closer to the blonde and slipped her arms around her shoulders, pulling her close. She was slightly surprised to find that the embrace didn't feel uncomfortable at all. In fact it felt anything but uncomfortable. Rachel found herself vaguely wondering what hugging Quinn would feel like but she quickly shrugged the thought off. The ex-head cheerio would probably slap her at the first sign that she was about to initiate physical contact. A moment later Rachel glanced up as the girl in question walked into the room with a box of tissues and a glass of water in her hands.

Quinn raised a questioning eyebrow when she noticed their position on the couch "What happened to 'too intimate'?"

Rachel shrugged silently as Quinn set the glass of water on the table before squeezing back into her position between Brittany and the arm of the couch.

Brittany reluctantly drew back from Rachel's embrace and took a deep breath. She winced at the throbbing in her throat and the slight ache in her head "My head hurts."

"I brought you some Ibuprofen." Quinn said as she pressed two tablets into Brittany's hand. Rachel glanced at her questioningly and she quickly explained "Crying always gives her a headache."

"Oh…" Rachel muttered thoughtfully.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Quinn questioned gently as she pushed a strand of blonde hair stuck to Brittany's cheek behind her ear "If you do we're all ears…right Rachel?"

Rachel nodded in response "Of course."

"I'm worried about Santana." Brittany admitted quietly.

"Do you want to call her…?" Quinn offered, already starting to get to her feet to grab the phone. She was stopped in place however as Brittany grabbed her wrist and shook her head in response to the question "Brittany…" Quinn slowly sank back into her seat next to friend "Is something going on between you and Santana? Did you have a fight or something?" Her brow furrowed slightly, even the words feeling wrong. Brittany and Santana never fought…they were inseparable in every way. But lately there had been an undeniable tension between them.

Brittany frowned for a moment, unsure as to whether she should tell Quinn what had been going on between herself and Santana "If I tell you…do you promise you won't tell anyone? Even if San does something mean to you or something?"

"I promise." Quinn stated sincerely. She glanced over at Rachel with a warning look in her eyes "Berry, if I hear anything said in this room repeated at school so help me God I'll…"

"I won't tell anyone." Rachel stated quickly, slightly affronted by the suggestion that she would and _really_ not wanting Quinn to finish her sentence "I promise."

Quinn was silent for a moment, searching Rachel's eyes for any sign that she was lying. The brunette swallowed hard and had to force herself not to shift uncomfortably as hazel eyes bore intently into her own, as if examining her very soul. Finally Quinn nodded approvingly "I believe you."

"Last year, San told me that she loves me." Brittany blurted out after a brief silence "That she's in love with me."

Quinn looked slightly shocked at the revelation as her eyes shot to Brittany, though she didn't look as if the information came out of nowhere "What did you say?"

"I told her I couldn't be with her because I was with Artie." Brittany answered quietly "And I said that if I wasn't with him I would be with her."

"But you're not with Artie anymore." Rachel stated the obvious "So why aren't you with Santana? You do love her…don't you?"

"Of course I do." Brittany nodded profusely "But I told her that I couldn't be with her until she's comfortable with herself…Until she loves herself as much as _I_ love her."

"So…until she comes out?" Rachel inquired curiously.

"Yeah…I thought she was ready and I asked her to go on Fondue for two so I could ask her to prom but she didn't show up. She isn't ready."

Rachel nodded understandingly and Brittany continued in a sad tone "After New York I thought we could be friends until she's ready but she's been avoiding me. She won't even sit next to me in Glee club anymore."

Quinn hummed knowingly. Since the start of the year Santana had returned to sitting close to Brittany instead of halfway across the room but she was still using Quinn as some kind of barricade between them "Have you tried to talk to her about it?"

"She doesn't want to talk." Brittany sighed softly "She always finds something else to do. Like today when she left with that Doctor."

Quinn frowned, still slightly concerned by the Latina taking off with the strange man. She had left her at least three messages but had yet to hear back from Santana. She opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off by the ringing of the phone. She quickly jumped up from the couch and hurried to pick up the phone, hoping it would be Santana "Hello?"

"Hey." Santana's voice sounded on the other end of the line "Look Quinn…"

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" Quinn hissed angrily into the receiver "You can't just take off like that and not tell me where you're go…"

"Is Brittany there with you?" Santana blurted out worriedly "I called her house but her Mom said that she was staying with you tonight."

"Yeah, she's here." Quinn answered.

"Can I talk to her?" Santana asked hopefully, her voice weaker than Quinn was used to hearing "Please? I just…I need to hear her voice."

Quinn glanced questioningly at Brittany and held up the phone. Brittany shook her head hesitantly, her heart tightening at the very thought of speaking to Santana. She was slightly confused as to why she was having that reaction but she was sure that if she spoke to the Latina, she would burst into tears again. She hesitantly gripped Rachel's hand for comfort and smiled weakly when the brunette squeezed back.

Quinn sighed and turned away from Brittany and Rachel "I'm sorry San. She's…she's sleeping right now." She heard a barely disguised sob on the other line and with a glance at Rachel and Brittany walked out of the room "Hey." She lowered her voice to a whisper as she walked into the kitchen "Are you okay?"

"No." Santana laughed tearfully "I'm not."

"Did that Doctor guy do something to you?" Quinn asked angrily "Did he hurt you?"

"No." Santana inhaled deeply as if she was fighting to regain her composure "I just needed to talk to Brittany. Is…is she okay?"

Quinn nodded, though she knew Santana couldn't see her "Rachel and I are looking after her."

"_Berry_?" Santana exclaimed in shock "You're with Rachel freaking Berry?"

"Long story." Quinn stated. She waited for a moment, listening to the soft sniffles on the other side of the phone "Do you want me to come over?"

"I'm good, thanks Q." Santana answered even though she sounded far from okay "Just…Just look after Brittany for me, okay?"

"Okay. But Santana…" she trailed off as she was met with a dial tone. She sighed and hung up the phone before making her way back into the living room. It was going to be a long night.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

Santana walked into McKinley High to be greeted by the sight of the Doctor and Rose standing against a row of lockers, talking quietly. She approached quickly and Rose looked up, catching her eye. The blonde subtly nudged the Doctor to inform him that Santana was approaching them.

"Good morning Santana Lopez!" The Doctor beamed as he spun around to greet her.

"Do you have to be so damn chipper all of the time?" Santana frowned at him "And you can call me by something other than my full name you know."

"Okay." The Doctor grinned "How about Santa? Like Santa Clause, the figure from American culture. The legend of which is of course derived from St Nicholas. Jolly fellow he was." He glanced at Rose "Remind me to take you to meet him when we have time. He's brilliant."

Santana blinked at him "You're so…_weird_."

"Thank you!" The Doctor exclaimed brightly.

Santana rolled her eyes as the time lord once again mistook her statement as a compliment "What are you doing, anyway?"

"Just looking around." Rose answered with a shrug as she glanced around at the empty hallways. Santana was after all, 5 minutes late again.

"You still haven't told me why you're here." Santana said as she began to walk, obviously expecting them to follow her "What would an alien want from a stupid high school anyway?" she stopped at her locker and entered the correct combination before opening it.

"Time lord." The Doctor corrected as he watched Santana put her books into her locker.

"Whatever." Santana waved him off as she grabbed the books she needed and shut her locker again before proceeding to walk down the hallway "I think I've figured out what your deal with Berry is."

"Oh really?" The Doctor perked up at Santana's statement, hoping he could learn something useful from what she was about to tell him "What's that?"

"She's like…a Martian, right?" Santana grinned "And you've come to take her back to her home planet so everybody else at the school can get a little bit of peace and quiet."

"No."

"Oh." Santana muttered, looking slightly disappointed "Damn."

"So where are we going?" Rose asked suddenly.

"_I'm_ going to Glee club." Santana answered with a shrug "You two seems to be following me."

"Glee club?" Rose asked cluelessly "Is that some kind of American thing?"

"Apparently, it's like a _choir_." The Doctor responded before Santana had a chance "That's where I went yesterday. It's rather intriguing, albeit rather dull at the same time."

"Hey!" Santana exclaimed, looking rather affronted at the suggestion.

"Is that where we're going now?" Rose grinned excitedly "Or are we doing the 'walking aimlessly around until trouble finds us' thing?"

"As much as I love it when trouble finds us I think sticking with Santa h…"

"Okay." Santana stopped short and whirled around to face the Doctor and Rose "Never call me that. Seriously."

"Whatever you want Santana Lopez."

Santana groaned and continued to walk down the hallway.

"Anyway, as I was saying." The Doctor continued "It's probably better to stick with our young friend here. That is if that is okay with her."

Santana shrugged as they rounded the corner "Whatever. It's fine."

"Why are we walking so fast?" Rose asked suddenly, finding herself have to jog a couple of steps to keep up with the brunette.

"I'm already late." Santana answered as they approached the door to the choir room "And I need to see Br…Someone."

The Doctor and Rose shared a look before they followed Santana into the room.

"Do you have groupies or something now Santana?" Puck's voice sounded.

Santana didn't spare him a glance as her gaze was fixed intently upon Brittany. She quickly approached the row where the blonde was sitting next to Quinn and motioned for the latter to move over a seat. Quinn rolled her eyes though she didn't look too unhappy at the request. In fact she had visibly brightened upon being told to move.

"Hey." Santana whispered as she took the seat Quinn had previously occupied "Have you been crying B?"

"A bit." Brittany smiled sheepishly. Santana frowned and lifted her hand as if to touch the other girl but froze halfway. Her hand hovered lamely for a moment before Brittany gripped it tightly.

"Is this okay?" Brittany asked hopefully.

Santana nodded slowly, unable to deny the blonde the simple contact. She glanced back towards the front to see the Doctor was whispering something to his companion "Hey Doc, are you going to sit down or what?"

The Doctor looked up in surprise as if he had forgotten that himself and Rose weren't alone in the room "Oh…of course." He began to walk up to where Quinn, Santana and Brittany sat, flashing Rachel a grin on the way up. Predictably she was sitting next to Finn again, the boys arm slung possessively across her chair "Hello again."

"Hi." Rachel smiled, offering him a small wave.

"Who's that?" Rose whispered as the Doctor sat next to Quinn and she took the last empty seat next to him.

"Rachel Berry." The Doctor answered just as softly. He glanced to his left at Quinn, his voice rising to a normal volume again "I don't believe you've been acquainted. Rose, this is Quinn Fabray."

"Oh….you mean…?" the Doctor nodded at Rose's unvoiced question and she leaned forward slightly in her seat "Hi."

"Hey." Quinn smiled politely though she looked quite puzzled "Are you from the school board too?"

"School board?"

"Psychic paper." The Doctor whispered quickly.

"Oh! Yeah…the school board." Rose nodded in response to Quinn's question "Yes. I'm his assistant."

Quinn tilted her head slightly in contemplation "If you don't mind me saying, your accent is kind of…strange. You're not from around here, are you?"

Rose shook her head "I'm from London originally. Not the posh part."

"That's cool." Brittany piped up from next to them "I went to London once. I got lost."

"Oh, how could I forget?" the Doctor exclaimed "Rose this is Brittany. Brittany S Pierce."

"Hey." Rose smiled, offering a small wave.

Brittany was about to reply when the Doctor glanced at her. The glance was fleeting but as his eyes locked into hers, he visibly tensed "Oh…Oh no." he sprang to his feet and shuffled along the row until he stood directly in front of the dancer "Brittany?" he gently grasped Brittany's arms and pulled her to her feet "Look into my eyes." He waited until her eyes focused on his own before he leaned close to peer into blue irises "Oh…Wow."

"What are you doing?" Santana stood up next to them and clutched Brittany's arm "Doctor?"

The Doctor placed his hands on Brittany's cheeks and leaned forward until they were almost nose to nose.

"Santana will kick that Doctor's ass if he gets any closer to kissing Brittany." Quinn mused under her breath.

"He's not going to _kiss_ her!" Rose exclaimed quickly. Quinn quirked an eyebrow at her and she quickly rephrased her statement "I mean…he's probably just checking something."

"What?" Puck smirked from the row behind them "Her breath?" he leaned forward between Quinn and Rose's seats "I'm Puck. And just for the record, you can check my breath any time you want." He winced as he received a slap to the back of his head from Lauren for his comment "Ow…Nevermind."

"Interesting…" the Doctor mused tilting his head this way and that to look into Brittany's eyes at different angles.

"Hey Doc?" Santana whispered as she tugged on the Doctor's sleeve "I know Britt's eyes are pretty damn stunning but this is a bit weird, don't you think?"

"Mr. Schue is going to have a heart attack if he comes back and sees this." Mercedes murmured from the row in front where she was sitting with Kurt on one side and Sam on the other.

"You appear to have something in your eye Brittany." The Doctor murmured, squinting slightly to peer into the girls eyes "Something that's not meant to be there."

"Where? Let me see!" Santana demanded, pushing the Doctor lightly to the right. She placed her hands on a bemused looking Brittany's cheeks and peered into her eyes "I don't see anything."

"It's not something you can see with the naked eye." The Doctor informed her "I can only see it because I'm a…you know what."

"I don't feel anything." Brittany lifted her hand and rubbed her eye as if to remove whatever the Doctor had seen.

The Doctor was about to open his mouth to reply when Mr Schuester walked back into the room "Sorry I took so long. The line at the photocopier was…" he trailed off as he looked up from his photocopies to be greeted by the sight of the Doctor, Santana and Brittany standing up "Oh…Hello. I didn't realise we had guests."

"Hello again." The Doctor grinned as Santana and Brittany sat down, allowing him to shuffle back to his seat "This is my assistant, Rose Tyler."

"Nice to meet you." Mr Schue looked confused by the Doctor's reappearance but he quickly shrugged it off and began to address his club "Since we only have 15 minutes left of the lesson, I'm going to leave this…" he held up the papers in his hand "For next week. Grab a copy on your way out and read over it at home." He dropped the sheets of music onto the piano behind him before turning back to his audience "Does anyone have anything they would like to perform before we leave?"

"Rose does!"

Rose visibly paled at the Doctor's exclamation and she quickly turned to face him "_Doctor!_" she hissed warningly.

The Doctor grinned innocently "What? I need to observe and I can't do that if nobody else is here, can I? Plus…I know you can sing."

Rose grumbled under her breath but she willingly got to her feet and walked to the front of the room. She faced her audience and wrung her hands nervously "Well…Erm…" she noticed the Doctor give her an enthusiastic thumbs up and glared at him before shifting her gaze to Santana "Santana? Can you help me…please?"

Santana chuckled to herself at Rose's pitiful tone and stood up from her chair. She glanced at the Doctor and smirked "Looks like you're in trouble later."

The Doctor shrugged innocently and Santana walked down the stairs to stand at Rose's side. The blonde leaned close to her and whispered something into her ear. Santana looked slightly perplexed but nodded anyway as she turned and relayed the details to Brad the piano guy. A moment later the music started and Santana uttered the first words of the song.

_**(We can do anything that we want (x 4))**_

Rose took a deep breath and glanced at the Doctor before she joined in.

_**Why you gotta play that song so loud? -Rose  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!) - Santana<br>Why you always run around in crowds?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>Why d'you always have to dance all night?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>Why d'you always say what's on your mind?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<strong>_

_**Don't try to tell me what I already know  
>Don't criticise me 'cos I'm running the show<br>Some revolution is gonna happen today  
>I'm gonna chase the dark clouds away<br>Come on and help me sing it**_

The Doctor grinned as he nodded his head along to the strangely catchy tune. He watched interestedly as slowly but surely the Glee Club joined in with the singing and got to their feet.

_**We can do what we want to do  
>We can do anything<br>Free to be who we want to be  
>Just tell yourself you can do it<strong>_

_**Why you gotta play that song so loud?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>Why you always run around in crowds?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>Why d'you always have to dance all night?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>Why d'you always say what's on your mind?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<strong>_

_**We'll take life easy, the music never ends  
>Perfect solution to the stress and the strain<br>I know the sun will follow the rain  
>Come on and help me sing it<br>We can do what we want to do  
>We can do anything<br>Free to be who we want to be  
>Just tell yourself you can do it<strong>_

"Oh…" The Doctor leaned forward in his seat as he noticed Quinn grab Rachel's hand. It was clearly an unconscious movement but neither girl seemed to notice the touch at all "That's interesting…" he mused quietly to himself. Usually when one grabs another persons' hand they tend to at least notice the touch. Quinn and Rachel however were completely oblivious to it.

_**We can do anything that we want  
>We can We can We can<br>We can do anything that we want  
>So shake it, move it, use the groove<br>Go with the flow and take over the show  
>Let me tell you its sweet and its an upbeat<br>Me and the crew there's nothing we can't do  
>If you want to catch this vibe then get with us<br>Come on and help me sing it**_

The Doctor was so absorbed watching Quinn and Rachel's arms swinging back and forth between them that he didn't notice Rose approach him and startled slightly when his hand was grabbed. The blonde grinned as she tugged him to his feet and pulled him back down to the front of the room.

_**Why you gotta play that song so loud?  
>(Because we want to! Because we want to!)<br>**_

_**TBC**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thanks again for all of your comments. I'm glad you're still into the fic. I wasn't going to update this early but the on stage Brittana kiss (yay!) inspired me to write so... I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

Chapter 4

As the rest of the Glee club were leaving the Doctor pulled Brittany quietly to the side "Brittany, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Brittany glanced over her shoulder as most of the club filtered out of the doors. She glanced back at the Doctor, her expression gravely serious "Is this about Santana? Is she sick or something? Is that why she left with you yesterday bec…?"

The Doctor held up a hand, effectively ending the blondes worry fuelled questions "I can assure you that there is nothing wrong with Santana. Well…" he frowned thoughtfully "Physically she is in perfect health."

"Who's in perfect health?" Santana herself asked as she approached the Doctor with Brittany's bag slung over her shoulder. Rose walked slightly behind her, looking somewhat tense.

"Me!" the Doctor exclaimed "I'm in perfect health." He grinned and held up his arms as if offering himself up for inspection.

"You said 'she'." Santana pointed out suspiciously.

"Did I? Ah…yes." The Doctor responded slowly "Yes, I did. Well you see I sometimes refer to myself in the third person and as a…No, that's not going to work is it?"

Santana shook her head and questioningly raised her eyebrows. She was just about to voice her suspicions when Quinn spoke up from behind them "What's going on with you three?"

Brittany and Santana turned around to see Quinn staring at them, her hands on her hips. Rachel hovered awkwardly next to her, looking just as curious.

"I just need to check something." The Doctor answered quickly "If you wouldn't mind…?" he motioned to the door.

"I would actually." Quinn strode over to them and positioned herself at Brittany's side "If there's something wrong with Brittany I want to know about it." She paused for a moment in thought as Rachel walked over to stand next to her "Are you even a real Doctor? Because I thought that you said you were from the CGI or something."

"Quinn, back off." Santana ordered firmly.

"Why should I?" Quinn demanded to know "Brittany's _my_ friend too you know."

"I know that." Santana sighed and rolled her eyes "Look Q, there's nothing wrong with Brittany so you can go. Take the dwarf with you."

"You're not the boss of me Lopez." Quinn stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest "And I'm not leaving."

Santana cursed under her breath at her friend's look of resolve and grabbed the Doctor's arm to pull him away from the group "Can't you give them something to knock them out?"

"Do you _really_ want me to render your friends unconscious?" the Doctor asked.

"Friend. As in one." Santana corrected "Berry is definitely not my friend…far from it actually."

"Yet."

"What?" Santana frowned.

"Oops." The Doctor muttered under his breath "Spoilers." He shook his head and turned back to Santana "I couldn't knock them out even if I wanted to. Which I wouldn't."

"Well you can't do whatever you're going to do _here_." Santana pointed out "Can't we go back to the TARDIS?"

"I don't allow just anyone into my TARDIS." The Doctor whispered with a quick glance at Rose "Especially after the way we got here."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Santana asked "Quinn is the most stubborn person I know. She's not going to just leave…especially now that she thinks something is going on with Brittany."

"What I'm going to do is minimally invasive." The Doctor answered "But it's going to look slightly strange. And for that reason I need to ask…Do you trust me Santana Lopez?"

Santana hesitated for a moment before she answered with a nod "Yes. I do."

"Good." The Doctor grinned "Because I trust you too…hence the reason I allowed you into my TARDIS. Now all I ask is that you don't interfere with what I'm about to do and you keep Quinn and Rachel effectively distracted."

Santana nodded "Yeah, okay. I can do that." She glanced over at Brittany before looking back to the Doctor who appeared to be waiting for her to say something "Hey Doc? This isn't going to hurt her or anything, is it?"

"Of course not." The Doctor answered brightly "It may be slightly uncomfortable but it's definitely not going to hurt her."

Santana nodded thoughtfully.

"What are you whispering about?" Quinn called suspiciously. The trio turned to face her and she raised an expectant eyebrow "Well? Are you going to tell us what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on." Santana answered as she wandered back over to Brittany, Quinn and Rachel with the Doctor and Rose hot on her heels "Berry, shouldn't you be off with Hudson?"

Rachel shook her head "I told him I'm going to be busy with Quinn tonight."

"As you should be." The Doctor chimed in with a grin.

"Excuse me?"

"Um…Nothing."

"So what are you going to do to Brittany?" Quinn asked expectantly.

The Doctor shot Santana a quick look. Seemingly understanding, the Latina walked closer to Quinn until she was right in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked irritably, stepping to the side to see past Santana's shoulder. She sighed exasperatedly when the other girl stepped in the same direction, effectively blocking her line of sight again "San, I can't _see_."

"What are you doing with Berry?" Santana asked shortly, effectively capturing Rachel's attention too "I thought you hated her."

"I don't _hate _her." Quinn scowled at the statement "And for your information we're going to be studying tonight. Not that you woul…" she trailed off as she realised what Santana was trying to do "You're just trying to distract me. I'm not _stupid._" She stood on her tip toes to look over Santana's shoulder. She frowned when she noticed that the Doctor was standing directly in front of Brittany, two fingers of each hand on her temples while his thumbs rested just beneath her eyes. Both of them had their eyes shut and wore slightly uncomfortable expressions "Hey, what's he doing to her?" she moved to shove past Santana but the Latina held her back "What the hell, S?"

"He's not doing anything." Santana stated firmly "He's just checking her out…Don't interrupt him."

"It doesn't look especially comfortable." Rachel observed worriedly as she watched Brittany and the Doctor's expressions "Is he using pressure points? I don't think that's a good idea unless he's fully aware of the risks attached and has ample first aid trai…"

"Shut it Midget." Santana warned quietly, though she was clearly forcing herself not to look over her shoulder "I trust him."

"Why?" Quinn asked, slightly confused though her gaze was still fixed intently on the Doctor's actions "You've only known him for…two days? Why would you so readily trust him with Brittany when you don't trust anyone _else_ with her?"

Santana wavered for a moment before she answered steadily "I have my reasons."

"Brittany." The Doctor spoke up in a whisper without opening his eyes "I need you to tell me if it starts to hurt…If I go too deep."

Brittany swallowed hard and replied in a voice that was just as hushed "It hurts _all_ of the time."

Upon hearing the statement, Santana sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and blinked rapidly to prevent tears filling her eyes.

The Doctor frowned but remained silent apart from occasional muttering under his breath as he continued his examination. Without warning his eyes sprang open and he moved away from Brittany like he had been burnt, his hand moving to his chest.

"Doctor?" Rose questioned worriedly as she hurried to his side "Doctor, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The Doctor clasped her hand to soothe her worry and straightened up, slightly breathless "Oh Brittany." He gazed sympathetically at the blonde in question and shook his head "Brittany, Brittany, Brittany…"

Brittany stared back at him silently.

"What is it?" Santana moved to Brittany's side and clasped her arm protectively "What's wrong with her?"

"It hurts all of the time." The Doctor whispered sadly, finally allowing his hand to drop from his chest.

"What hurts?" Santana asked frantically as she began to check Brittany over for any injuries "Where does it hurt B?" the blonde didn't reply and Santana found no sign of injury so she turned to the Doctor, her expression bordering on desperate "_Doctor!"_

The Doctor was finally able to draw his gaze away from Brittany and quickly set about trying to alter the course of the conversation "It's nothing you need to worry about right now Santana Lopez. The most pressing matter is…" he moved over to Brittany and hesitated for a moment before placing his hands on her shoulders and looking deep into her ocean blue eyes "There's a memory in her head that isn't supposed to be there."

"What do you mean?" Santana asked, tightening her grip on the suddenly mute blonde "What kind of memory?"

"Do you recall what we did yesterday?" the Doctor asked subtly "Where we went?"

It took Santana a moment but she finally figured it out "Oh…" her eyes widened alarm "Oh! She saw me."

"She did." The Doctor confirmed "And she _remembers_ seeing you."

"Wait…" Rose held up a hand "Is this like the time when I went to my Dad and messed up by saving him? Please tell me we don't have to be on the lookout for reapers."

The Doctor shook his head "It's nothing like that. Reapers only appear if a paradox is created. For instance if we had gone back twice and our past selves had seen us."

"Hold on." Quinn spoke up loudly "What the _hell_ are you people talking about?"

The Doctor blinked at her as if he had forgotten that she was there "Oh…Quinn. Hold that thought." He glanced at Brittany who was still staring at him with an unreadable look on her face "Brittany, are you okay?"

Brittany nodded silently.

"B, why aren't you _talking_?" Santana questioned as she moved in front of Brittany and placed her hands on her cheeks, forcing eye contact "Talk to me Brittany…_please."_

Brittany blinked as her eye contact with the Doctor was broken "San…I'm okay. It's okay."

Santana sighed in relief and turned to the Doctor though she still didn't relinquish her grip on Brittany "Doc, what do we do? Is this…memory going to hurt her?"

"I'm not sure." The Doctor frowned thoughtfully "I don't see why it would. Brittany, did anything strange happen yesterday? Did you experience any kind of abnormal pain?"

"Um…" Brittany narrowed her eyes in concentration.

"There was the thing at the cafe." Rachel spoke up tentatively "Remember Brittany? You were in obvious pain and as I recall your exact words were…'_I can feel her.'_"

"What?" Santana instantly rounded on Quinn and Rachel "Why didn't you tell me that when I called you? What the _hell_ gives you the right to keep that from me?"

"I think you should probably ask yourself what gives you the right to _know_ that." Quinn pointed out, though her tone wasn't angry or harsh.

"She's my best _friend._" Santana stated angrily "That is what gives me the fucking right."

"Langua…" the Doctor tried to intercept but found that the girls merely talked over him.

"Well she's _my_ best friend too!" Quinn exclaimed a dash of hurt lingering in her hazel eyes "And as much as we argue so are _you_. But I don't see you telling me everything there is to know about your life. Or _anything_ about your life for that matter."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Quinn, don't." Rachel warned softly.

Quinn looked like she was about to say something before she sighed and shook her head "Nevermind San. It doesn't matter."

Santana looked slightly guilty as she watched Quinn's shoulders slump in defeat. She was about to press the blonde for answers when the Doctor spoke up.

"Right then. Now that that's out of the way…I have a question." He glanced at Brittany first "Do you often find yourself crying for seemingly no reason at all?"

Brittany thought for a moment but shook her head "Only when it hurts." She tapped her chest and the Doctor nodded understandingly before turning to Rachel and Quinn "What about you?"

"No." Quinn answered slightly too fast.

Rachel hesitated for a moment before shrugging "Sometimes. I don't even realise I'm doing it…Usually somebody has to point it out to me. It's rather strange."

"Interesting." The Doctor mused "Does it generally happen when you're alone or there's a long period of inward thought?"

"Yes." Rachel nodded her head "Like when everything is quiet and there's nothing to distract me."

"And you say that this doesn't happen to you at all, Quinn?" the Doctor asked as he looked towards a nervous looking Quinn. The blonde immediately shook her head and a small smile tugged at the Doctor's lips "Interesting."

"Why is that interesting?" Rose asked, seemingly not following the Doctor's train of thought.

The Doctor didn't tear his gaze away from Quinn and Rachel "Do you even realise what you're doing right now?"

"Of course we know what we're doing." Quinn answered somewhat snappily "I'm waiting to find out what the hell is wrong with Brittany and Rachel is waiting for me to leave so we can go and _study._"

"Apart from that. I mean right this second…Do you realised what you're doing _right at this precise second_?"

"I must admit that I have no idea what you're talking about." Rachel confessed looking just as confused as Quinn and everybody else in the room with the exception of the Doctor "What are we doing?"

The Doctor didn't respond but motioned with his eyes to the small space between Quinn and Rachel. Everyone simultaneously glanced down to see that while the girls weren't fully holding hands, Quinn had a rather tight grip on Rachel's fingers. The blonde in question gasped and wrenched her hand back as if the touch pained her.

Rachel stared numbly at the place Quinn's hand had previously been before looking up at the Doctor "What is your point?"

"My point is that though you're not aware you're doing it, there's clearly a deeply ingrained urge to…"

"Like hell." Quinn interrupted as she took a step away from Rachel, her hand still held to her chest "Do you seriously think that I would want…That I would _want_ to hold Man-hands hand?"

Rachel visibly flinched at the mention of the old insult.

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully and closed the distance between himself and the brunette to clasp her hand in his own. He brought it to eye level for a moment before glancing at Quinn "I can assure you that her hands are not manly." He held up his own hand as example "Man hand." He proceeded to press the said hand against Rachel's palm as if to show the difference "She most definitely does not have manly hands."

"Quinn doesn't really think that." Brittany piped up from behind them "She's just saying that to be mean." Quinn flushed and realising how her words sounded Brittany quickly backtracked "Q isn't a mean person though."

"I know Brittany." The Doctor murmured, his gaze lingering thoughtfully on an uncomfortable looking Quinn.

"Doctor?" Rachel spoke up hesitantly "Can I have my hand back?"

"Oh! Of course." The Doctor exclaimed, noticing that his palm was still pressed against Rachel's. He quickly stepped away and looked at the girls around him. Santana looked rather perplexed at the situation as did Rose and Brittany was staring at him with a sombre expression. Rachel still appeared slightly wounded by the earlier name calling while Quinn merely looked as if she wanted to run from the room.

"Come on Berry." Quinn finally announced, her voice slightly shaky "We're going." She started to walk away but paused halfway to the door and glanced back at Brittany and Santana in concern "Are you two coming?"

Santana looked at the Doctor hesitantly and he offered her a reassuring smile "Go. I'll see you on Monday. Maybe before then if anything…should happen." He gave her a pointed look and she nodded in understanding.

"Got it." Santana slipped her hand into Brittany's and followed Quinn and Rachel out of the room.

"So…what was that about?" Rose asked expectantly as soon as she was sure the teenagers were out of earshot "What's really wrong with Brittany?"

The Doctor wasn't at all surprised that Rose had managed to pick up on his half lie "There _is_ a memory in her head. But that's not the most worrying aspect of Brittany's problem." He sighed and walked over to the piano to lean against it.

"Well then what is?" Rose asked as she hopped up to sit on the polished black instrument.

"To put it simply…Her heart is breaking. Very literally."

Rose frowned at the simple explanation "Why is her 'heart breaking'?"

"It's as if she's holding somebody else's emotions within herself." The Doctor explain "Or at least a certain emotion."

"What kind of emotion?"

"Loss…Grief." The Doctor answered "Combined with an overwhelming sense of love. The kind that makes your chest feel tight, makes you feel like you can't breathe and causes your stomach erupt in butterflies."

Rose nodded slowly "I've felt that once or twice."

"But combined with her other emotions it's stronger than it should be." The Doctor explained "The pain is near unbearable."

"She said 'It hurts all of the time'." Rose observed thoughtfully "Did you feel that?"

"Yes. Looking into somebody's mind links you not only mentally but also emotionally. I felt everything that she was feeling at that moment."

"And it hurt?" Rose asked curiously "I mean that's why you pulled back, isn't it?"

"Yes, it hurt." The Doctor answered honestly "I've only ever felt close to that much pain on one occasion…And that pain didn't go away for a long time. The difference with Brittany is that she has too many emotions inside of her body so it hurts twice as much."

"What's going to happen to her?" Rose asked "Could it kill her?"

"The emotions themselves can only hurt her _emotionally_." The Doctor responded "But as you know they can lead a person to do things they wouldn't usually do."

"You think she could hurt herself?"

"It's a possibility. That is if I don't help her in time…Which I will."

Rose couldn't help but smile warmly at the Doctor's positive outlook "And what about Rachel and Quinn? Are you going to 'help them' in time?"

"Rachel and Quinn…" the Doctor grinned to himself "Are a work in progress."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry to say but this…is a bit of a filler chapter consisting of Fabrittana friendship, Brittana, and a little bit of BrittBerry friendship. Not much Faberry right now. :/ I know filler chapters are usually really boring but it really is necessary. Also the next update may take longer than usual and I figured you guys would prefer **_**something **_**to tide you over rather than nothing…right? Anyway, I hope you like the chapter despite the lack of anything **_**really**_** interesting happening (and as always thanks for the comments!) :)**

Chapter 5

"So are you going to tell me what's going on between you and this 'Doctor' person?"

Santana groaned at the blurted out question. They had been at Quinn's house for all of five minutes before the blonde blurted out the question, obviously unable to control herself any longer "No. It's none of your business."

"It became my business as soon as he started messing with Brittany." Quinn countered, crossing her arms over her chest "What's the deal with you and him?"

"There's nothing going on between me and the Doctor." Santana stated firmly as she pushed herself off the couch they had all somehow managed to squeeze onto. Rachel and Brittany watched with wide eyes from the far end of the couch as the argument progressed.

"That's not what it looks like."

"Well I could say the same thing about you and Berry. What with all of the hand holding and the 'studying' you're suddenly doing." Santana said, complete with air quotes.

Quinn flushed at the insinuation "Shut _up_ Santana. I don't know what that Doctor was talking about but there's nothing like _that _going on between Berry and I." She glanced at Rachel for support "Tell her."

Rachel hesitated for a moment before speaking up "Quinn is right. There is not and never has been anything of a sexual nature going on between us."

"If that's the case then why weren't Britt and I invited to this 'study session'?" Santana asked expectantly.

Quinn rolled her eyes at the question "Santana, you don't study. I don't think you've _ever_ studied for anything. You don't even need to study."

"True." Santana smirked.

"And as for Brittany…you always let her copy your answers if you haven't helped her study." Quinn continued smugly "So there was no reason for you to come over."

Santana's expression darkened without warning and she scoffed at Quinn's statement "So what you're saying is we're only permitted to hang out with you when it's necessary?"

"What? No!" Quinn exclaimed quickly "Of course that's not what I'm saying."

"Whatever Q." Santana rolled her eyes at the blonde girl "If you'd rather 'study' with the midget, that's fine with me."

"I didn't say that either." Quinn sighed at Santana's irritated tone of voice "Look San…I don't want to argue with you. I just want to know what's wrong with Brittany okay?"

"The Doctor already told you." Santana responded "She's having some kind of memory issue but it's not a big deal."

"And I'm supposed to trust what he says?"

"_I_ trust him." Santana exclaimed loudly "Right now I trust him more than _anyone_ else."

Quinn shook her head in disbelief, her expression slightly wounded "Well it's obvious that you don't trust me at all but what about _Brittany_? Why would you trust this man whom you only met two days ago more than you trust your best friend?"

"Maybe because right now he is the only person in my life who hasn't fucking betrayed me at some point!"

Rachel felt rather than saw Brittany flinch next to her and slipped her hand comfortingly into the other girls.

Quinn was silent for a long moment as she glanced back and forth between Brittany and Santana "Are you seriously saying this right in front of her?"

Santana looked towards Brittany, her expression instantly softening when she noticed the wounded expression on her face "B, I'm sorry. I'm just…"

"You're just being honest." Brittany interrupted, forcing herself to remain composed despite the uncomfortable clenching in her chest. She squeezed Rachel's hand in an attempt to keep herself grounded and focused on the sensation of the brunettes thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand "It's okay."

Santana sighed fully aware that what she had said wasn't at all okay. She couldn't think of anything to say to rectify the situation however so she quickly turned back to Quinn "Okay, we'll make a deal…I assume you know what kind of deal I'm talking about here?" she waited for a hesitant nod before continuing "Don't be dissing my Doctor and I won't comment on your Berry thing."

"_Your_ Doctor?" Quinn raised her eyebrows at Santana's use of the word 'my'. She received a glare in response to her question "Fine…deal. And just for the record there _is_ no 'Berry thing'."

"What kind of deal is this?" Rachel whispered curiously to the blonde next to her.

"It's a deal that can't be broken no matter what happens." Brittany stated in response "We have to keep it between ourselves…Like when Santana and Quinn told me I'm supposed to keep their puzzle bobble tournaments a secret."

"Brittany…" Quinn sighed and turned to the blonde in question "The point of keeping it a secret is _not_ _telling_ anybody."

"Sorry Q." Brittany frowned "But it's only Rachel. She won't tell anyone…will you Rach?"

Rachel shook her head solemnly "I don't even know what puzzle bobble is."

"Most people call it bust a move." Brittany explained "You have to match the colours of the bubbles to score points. I made Santana and Quinn play when we were younger and now they're sort of addicted...They both like winning too much though so it's not much fun when they play against each other."

Though she wasn't particularly interested in the dynamics of the game Rachel nodded along to keep Brittany from thinking too much about Santana's earlier comment.

"Can I talk to you outside for a minute San?" Quinn whispered as she noticed that Brittany and Rachel were distracted. She waited for a nod before she walked discreetly out of the room. When she got to the kitchen she turned to see Santana walk in behind her.

"What's up?" Santana asked bluntly. She waited for a moment but when Quinn merely stared at her in silence she rolled her eyes "Come on Q. You must have wanted to say something or you wouldn't have dragged me in here. Get on with whatever you have to say to me."

"I'm sorry that you feel like you can't trust me." Quinn blurted out just as Santana was starting to think about leaving the room "I'm sorry about betraying you when we were on the cheerios together. I thought that after what happened in New York we might…" she faltered and shifted uncomfortably under Santana's shocked gaze "I'm just sorry, okay?"

"Um…It's okay?"

Quinn sighed at Santana's response "But I want you to know that if you ever need to talk I would never betray your confidence again."

"Yeah…sure." Santana chuckled uncomfortably "No offence Quinn but you're kind of freaking me out with all of the mushy talk."

"Sorry." Quinn frowned "I just hate that you don't trust me anymore. I thought we were getting back to normal after my _thing_ in New York."

Santana's expression softened as she noticed the hurt look Quinn was bearing "I'm sorry too. It's…It's not you, it's me."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Quinn teased lightly.

Santana looked slightly panicked for a moment before she realised that Quinn was only teasing her "Ha-ha." She offered the blonde a small smile but her expression quickly turned serious "Seriously though Q…I'm just a bit screwed up right now."

"You can talk to me." Quinn offered hopefully. She wanted nothing more than to tell Santana that she knew what was going on but she was also aware that she had to let Santana tell her when she was ready.

"Thanks Quinn." Santana smiled weakly "I don't think I even _know_ how to talk about it right now though."

Quinn nodded, though she looked slightly disappointed.

"If it's any consolation…" Santana continued upon noticing Quinn's expression "I trust you completely when it comes to Britt. I know you wouldn't let anything happen to her."

Quinn smiled at that. For Santana to say she trusted anyone with Brittany was a mostly unachievable feat "Santana?"

"What?" Santana asked warily as Quinn began to walk towards her.

"I'm going to hug you now. I thought I should warn you."

Santana looked amused as the words left Quinn's mouth "What? Why?"

Quinn was unsure as to whether Santana was questioning the hugging part or the warning part of the sentence but either way she chose to ignore it and instead pulled the Latina into a warm hug as soon as they were within touching distance. There was a moment of tenseness but eventually Santana succumbed to the embrace and relaxed, lifting her arms to wrap around the blonde's shoulders.

"We should probably go back in there." Santana eventually spoke up as she lightly pushed Quinn away "To make sure that Berry isn't brainwashing Britt."

Quinn rolled her eyed at the statement as she began to walk back to the living room with Santana at her side "It wouldn't kill you to be nice to her you know."

Santana opened her mouth to make a retort but remembering their earlier agreement she merely gave Quinn a look "I'm saying nothing."

They fell silent as they walked into the living room to find Brittany and Rachel talking animatedly on the couch. The two girls were so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn't even notice Santana and Quinn entering the room.

"So I assume the studying is off?" Santana asked Quinn, effectively capturing the attention of Brittany and Rachel.

Quinn shrugged "There's not much point in studying now. If you want you guys can sleep over."

"Where's your Mom?" Santana asked, glancing around as if expecting Judy Fabray to jump out at her.

"She went away for a while." Quinn muttered, averting her gaze "Said she had business to take care of."

Santana inhaled slowly, supressing the urge to comment on the woman's' lack of parenting "Well then I guess we're staying here tonight." She glanced at Rachel expectantly.

"I…should actually go." Rachel said as she slowly stood up from the couch.

"You're leaving?" Brittany questioned sadly.

Santana sighed at the upset expression on Brittany's face "You can stay if you want Berry. I don't care."

Rachel chose to ignore Santana's statement and instead addressed the blonde on the couch. "I'm sorry Brittany. My Dads will be expecting me back before 7:00. Friday night is family night and missing it is out of the question since both of my Dads have hectic work schedules."

"Oh…okay." Brittany still looked disappointed at the prospect of Rachel leaving but she gently pulled the brunette down to hug her tightly "I'll see you on Monday?"

"You'll see me before Monday." Rachel corrected with a small smile as she pulled away from the embrace "I'll come by tomorrow morning." She glanced at Quinn for approval and received a slight nod in response.

"Okay." Brittany smiled warmly.

Rachel nodded before she glanced towards Quinn, her gaze lingering awkwardly "Well…I'll see you tomorrow."

Quinn watched as Rachel walked out of the room "Wait…Berry!" she quickly jogged out of the room to find Rachel had stopped next to the door "Do you need me to drive you home?"

Rachel smiled softly at the offer "Thank you offering but I think I would rather walk. I need some time to process things."

"Right." Quinn muttered as she shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Goodnight Quinn." Rachel whispered as she opened the door behind her.

"Goodnight…Rachel." Quinn whispered as she watched the small brunette slip out of the house. She stared at the door for a moment, confused by the feeling of disappointment that suddenly weighed her heart down. Eventually she took a deep breath and walked back into the living room towards her friends.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

Less than two hours after finally retiring to bed, Quinn was startled awake by a muffled whimper. She groaned at the sound and rolled over in an attempt to ignore it, assuming it was Brittany or Santana who were sleeping next to her. Both Quinn and Santana had been slightly uncomfortable with reverting back to their past sleeping arrangements but Brittany had started to pout and they had eventually (after all of 5 seconds to be exact) given in. Quinn lay in silence for a moment before the noise sounded again, coupled with a soft shushing sound. She begrudgingly leaned up on her elbows and blearily squinted into the darkness, searching for the source of her disturbance. She frowned when she noticed that Santana was leaning up on her elbow, staring worriedly down at the girl between them. Quinn followed her gaze to a clearly distressed looking Brittany. Santana was tenderly tracing Brittany's damp cheek with her fingertips in a comforting gesture.

"San?" Quinn whispered just as another whimper sounded from Brittany.

Santana glanced up, startled to find Quinn awake "Nightmare." She explained simply.

Quinn nodded understandingly and shifted closer to lay her hand on Brittany's clammy forehead "Does she have these a lot?"

Santana's initial reaction would usually have been to respond with '_How should I know?'_ but she was too concerned about Brittany to care about what Quinn might think "No."

Quinn was about to suggest that they wake Brittany up when the distressed girl in question awoke with a gasp and shot up in the bed. Santana was sitting up at Brittany's side faster than Quinn could blink. After a brief moment of silence filled with only the sound of heavy breathing Brittany promptly broke into sobs and Santana pulled the blonde into her arms.

Quinn watched awkwardly as Santana lay back down and pulled Brittany close to her side, whispering to her softly. Clearly this was a familiar position for both of them and it made Quinn feel slightly out of place.

"You can go back to sleep if you want." Santana whispered as she noticed Quinn watching them "I've got her."

Quinn gave the Latina a look which clearly said '_Are you kidding_?' and scooted slightly closer, placing her hand upon Brittany's quivering back. Santana raised a questioning eyebrow at the gesture but she was mostly ignored.

"It _hurts_ San." Brittany sobbed into Santana's chest, her hands clutching the brunette in a vice like grip "It hurts so much."

"It's okay." Santana whispered, pressing a soft lingering kiss to Brittany's forehead. She glanced up in time to catch a hint of a smile on Quinn's lips "What?"

"Nothing." Quinn quickly forced herself to sober, in case Santana got spooked. The Latina's gaze lingered on her for a moment before an especially loud sob escaped Brittany's throat "Shhh…It's okay Britt-Britt. I'm right here."

"It feels…Squeezing." Brittany managed to gasp between sobs "God, it hurts…Please…make it stop San. I can't…" she dug her fingers into Santana's back as the pain in her chest increased and threatened to consume her in its intensity "Saaaan!"

Santana didn't bother to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes as she slid further down in the bed and held the blonde as close as she could "Shh, It's okay. I've got you Baby. I've got you."

Quinn's eyebrows shot to her hairline as the term of endearment slipped past Santana's lips. She gaped at her for a moment but the Latina didn't seem to have even noticed her slip and she was too busy rocking Brittany gently back and forth to notice Quinn's reaction.

"Get it out." Brittany pleaded into Santana's chest, her voice slightly muffled both by the fabric of Santana's shirt and the sobs that still tore through her body "I can't…I can't take it…Get it _out_!"

Quinn swallowed against the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. Brittany sounded like she was in a tremendous amount of pain and her body was shaking uncontrollably, from sobs and something else Quinn wasn't sure of. Santana wasn't in much of a better condition as tears rolled down her cheeks at the sight of the blondes' pain. Quinn hesitated for a moment, unsure as to what she should do when her best friends were in such a state before she finally decided to follow her instincts. Hoping that it wouldn't be too awkward now that she was aware of the true nature of her friends' relationship, she slid forward in the bed and tentatively spooned the taller blonde from behind. She extended her arm over Brittany and gently grasped Santana's forearm, hoping to provide any kind of comfort she could. Santana glanced up into Quinn's eyes, clearly shocked at the sudden movement. She didn't say anything however and after a moment they both turned back to the sobbing girl between them, trying in vain to sooth her. After what felt like hours Brittany's sobs turned to whimpers and occasional shudders and minutes later she fell into a fitful sleep.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

_Two days later_

"You look tired." The Doctor noted as he plopped into a seat next to Santana. The Latina startled slightly, having not expected the movement.

"Give me a heart attack the next time." She muttered, her gaze fixed intently on the stage. Brittany had stated that she wanted to practice some kind of dance routine in the auditorium and not wanting her to be alone Quinn had offered to join her. Santana had said she would meet them afterwards but after 20 minutes of worrying she had made her way to the auditorium to watch the blondes on stage.

"Sorry." The Doctor apologised "We didn't see you today."

Santana shrugged "I was around." She glanced briefly at the Doctor and frowned when she didn't immediately spot his companion "Where's Rose?"

"She's busy right now." The Doctor answered vaguely.

Santana hummed in response and turned her attention back to the stage to see Brittany execute a perfect sequence of dance moves. Left, right, back, jump, spin, left. The blonde in question glanced to Quinn, obviously expecting her to copy the movements. Quinn looked slightly lost for a moment before she attempted the movement. She stumbled halfway through and Santana grinned as she heard Brittany chuckle. Quinn playfully shoved the taller blonde in response.

"How is she?" the Doctor asked softly.

Santana ignored him for a moment as she watched Brittany walking Quinn through the steps. Left, right, back, jump, spin, left. "She's been having nightmares…really bad nightmares. And she cries a lot."

The Doctor nodded, his own gaze fixed upon the stage "And what about you Santana Lopez? How are you?"

The tone of the Doctors voice informed Santana that he already knew exactly how she was "How do you think I am?"

"It's going to get better." The Doctor whispered comfortingly "I'll fix her…I'll fix it all."

Santana nodded slowly though she offered no verbal response. They sat there for a few minutes before the lights began to dim. Santana leaned forward in her chair as 'Meteor shower' started to play and a spotlight shone down on Brittany. She had obviously decided to provide Quinn with an example of the dance she had in mind. Santana held her breath as Brittany began to dance gracefully across the stage, each step just as important as the last. There was something noticeably different about the dancers' precise moves however. The passion and the skill were still there but it seemed to Santana that Brittany was letting go more than she usually would have…like she was trying to lose herself in the music.

"She's stunning." The Doctor whispered matter of factly, his gaze fixed upon the stage.

Santana was slightly surprised to find that the Doctor had managed to make the statement without sounding pervy or insincere. Instead he sounded as if he merely was stating an obvious fact.

"Yeah…" Santana whispered, pushing back the tears which were steadily building up "She really is."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter for y'all (Extra long to thank you all for your comments etc). I hope you enjoy. **

**Warnings: Swearing *cough*Santana*cough* ;)**

Chapter 6

"You look knackered." Rose commented as she and the Doctor took a seat next to Santana in the choir room.

Santana leaned forward to peer past the Doctor who had situated himself between her and Rose "What?"

Rose was slightly confused by Santana's confusion but she quickly figured out the reason and elaborated on what she had said "Tired. You look like you haven't slept in days."

Santana huffed and sank back into her seat "I wish people would stop fucking saying that." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glowered at nothing in particular. She had only been at school for two hours and already Mercedes, Kurt and Zisces had commented on her exhausted appearance. To top her irritation off Brittany had for some reason waited until Santana had sat down until she took her own seat…on Quinn's other side.

"I agree with the new girl." Kurt spoke up from the front row as he turned around in his seat to face them "You have dark circles under your eyes Santana. I would recommend a light ex…" He faltered for a moment as his gaze flickered to Quinn. He blinked in surprise when he noticed that she too looked tired though not to the same degree as Santana "Quinn, you seem to be having the same problem."

"Shut your mouth Hummel." Santana sighed and rubbed her temples "Or I'll shut it for you."

Kurt was too busy staring intently at Quinn and Santana to respond to the threat.

"_Hummel_!" Santana exclaimed irritably when he still didn't turn back to the front "I swear to God if don't stop leering at us I'm going to smack you."

"Maybe you should leave it. Santana seems like she's in a bad mood." Sam stated quietly as he nudged the other boy to gain his attention. He had been on the receiving end of Santana's bad moods on more than one occasion and he knew that pestering her only made it worse.

With a thoughtful hum and a last glance between Quinn and Santana, Kurt turned back to the front.

The Doctor leaned to the left towards Santana and lowered his voice to a whisper "How is she?" He peered past her to the silent blonde at the end of the row. It was glaringly obvious that she had been crying and she hadn't been getting much sleep.

"Worse." Santana answered simply.

The Doctor was about to ask her to elaborate when the sound of arguing approached the room. Everybody glanced to the door and a moment later Rachel and Finn walked in. The Diva was strutting slightly ahead of Finn, an irritated expression on her face.

"I just want to know where you've been all weekend." Finn whined, seemingly not caring that the whole Glee club was listening to their argument "I hardly see you anymore and you never return my phone calls."

"It's been two days since we last saw each other Finn." Rachel stated reasonably "I wouldn't consider that to be a long time for us to be apart."

"I just want to know where you were." Finn stated as he followed his girlfriend over to the piano where she set her music sheets down "Why won't you tell me?"

"I already told you why I wasn't available over the weekend."

"Right." Finn scoffed disbelievingly "You were busy with Brittany. Come on Rach…Am I really supposed to believe that? You're not exactly friends with her."

"Finchel breakup number three? Four?" Kurt whispered with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't know." Mercedes replied in a bored tone of voice "I've lost count."

"What would you talk about anyway?" Finn continued when Rachel merely ignored him and continued with what she was doing "Brittany isn't exactly the most…"

"I suggest you stop right there Bigfoot." Santana interrupted loudly "Unless you want me to go all Lima Heights Adjacent on your ass."

"Well it's true." Finn didn't take his gaze away from Rachel who still wasn't looking at him. If he had been looking at the Latina he would have without a doubt cowered under her infuriated gaze. She looked like she wanted to pounce on him because of his probably unintentionally hurtful comments "How is Brittany supposed to keep up with all of that complicated stuff you talk about?"

Santana growled under her breath and leapt out of her seat but to her annoyance Quinn and the Doctor grabbed her arms and pulled her back down.

"Saying that about Brittany is really hypocritical of you." Quinn spoke up defensively, still clutching Santana's wrist in case she decided to pounce again "Isn't _slow_ your middle name?"

Finn glanced towards Quinn "Why are you getting involved? I wasn't even talking about you. And I'm only stating the obvious."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't speak that way about my friends Finn." Rachel said tersely, finally turning to face him.

"But Brittany isn't your friend." Finn argued, clearly confused by the situation "You said yourself that the cheerios were too cons..." he paused for a moment, scouring his brain in an attempt to remember the word "Conce…smug and you could never be friends with them."

Out of the corner of her eye Rachel noticed Brittany visibly flinch at the statement "Finn Hudson, I can assure you that I said no such thing about Brittany. I may have expressed a certain degree of contempt for the cheerios in the past but I _never_ included Brittany in that group." She looked at the blonde in question to see she was staring forlornly at the ground, her shoulders slumped in defeat. Rachel quickly turned back to Finn and he flinched at the anger in her eyes "How on earth could you be so tactless?"

"What? But Rach…" Finn frowned as he watched Rachel walk away from him. He quickly rushed to sit next to her "I'm sorry. I just miss you when you're not around." He waited until she glanced in his direction before offering up his patented kicked puppy dog look.

"I can't believe I used to think that look was cute." Quinn muttered under her breath.

Rachel merely nodded at him before turning back to the front. Finn grinned triumphantly but the smile was quickly wiped from his face when a sharp kick was delivered to the back of his chair, causing him to jolt forward.

"Oops." Santana smirked sourly when the boy glanced at her in shock.

Finn huffed and turned back to the front just as Mr Schuester walked into the room.

The teacher glanced towards the class and wavered when he noticed that Rose and the Doctor were still present and the majority of the class with the exception of only Kurt, Sam, Mercedes and Puck were glaring at nothing in particular. He heaved a sigh and turned to write the word of the day on the whiteboard.

"Rose." The Doctor whispered, gently nudging his companion. He waited until she looked at him before subtly motioning between Quinn and Finn.

Rose leaned forward in her seat to see that Finn had slung his arm across the back of Rachel's chair, his hand coming to rest on her right shoulder. She turned her gaze to Quinn and noticed that the teenager was glaring sullenly in Finn's direction. After a moment of thought Rose sank back into her chair and questioningly raised her eyebrows "What?"

The Doctor sighed disdainfully and rolled his eyes in a way that made Rose feel like she was completely missing the point.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

"You need to fix her." Santana demanded none too politely as she followed Rose and the Doctor out of the choir room. She had already told Quinn and Brittany to go ahead without her and that she would pick the dancer up from Quinn's house later.

The Doctor glanced at Rose before reaching out to place a hand on the clearly distressed Latina's shoulder "I'm sorry, it's not quite that simple."

"That's bullshit!" Santana wrenched herself out of his reach "What is the point in you being here if you're not going to fucking _fix_ her?"

"Come back to the TARDIS." The Doctor offered gently "We can talk in private."

Santana looked like she was going to argue for a moment but she eventually gave him a stiff nod. The Doctor offered her a small smile before he turned around and continued to walk in the direction he had been going until Santana had stopped him.

Santana hesitated for a moment before she shoved her hands into her pockets and followed the two newcomers down the hallway. The three walked in tense silence for a few minutes until the Doctor stopped outside of a supply closet and brandished something from his pocket. He pointed it at the door and pressed a button, causing a high pitched sound to emanate. A moment later the click of a lock was heard and the Doctor opened the door.

"How did you do that?" Santana asked as she watched him step into the small space and unlock the door to the TARDIS.

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor answered, pushing the door opened and ushering Rose and Santana inside "It can open any lock."

"Apart from wooden ones." Rose reminded him as she strode over to the central console "Or deadlocks."

"You _always_ have to point that out." The Doctor muttered with a fond shake of his head.

Santana took a moment to glance around the huge interior of the room she was in before joining Rose and the Doctor next to the control area "You have to fix her."

"Getting right down to business I see." Rose noted with a sigh.

"I mean it." Santana narrowed her eyes at the Time Lord and took a step forward "You _have_ to fix her."

"It's not that simple." The Doctor began "You have to understand…"

"No…_you_ have to understand!" Santana closed the remaining distance between them and prodded the Doctor firmly in the chest "_You _caused this by coming here. _I_ caused this by going back there for selfish reasons so _we_ have to fucking FIX this!"

"Santana…"

"Don't you dare '_Santana Lopez'_ me!" Santana warned angrily "I want Brittany fixed and I want her fixed right fucking _now!"_

Sensing that he wasn't going to get a word in edgeways in the conversation, the Doctor remained silent and waited for Santana to continue.

"She's in _pain_." Santana's voice softened slightly though the angry edge remained "You said she would be fine but she couldn't be further _from_ fine." She glanced expectantly between the Doctor and Rose "What's wrong with her?"

"Santana, I don't think…" Rose began to speak before she was cut off by the fiery Latina.

"I don't give a shitabout what you think!" Santana snarled furiously "Something is _really_ wrong with Brittany and I know that you know what it is so _tell me_ right now!"

For a moment the Doctor merely stared pensively at the trembling girl in front of him. Noting the pain in her eyes he decided that the best course of action would be to give her a straight answer "Her heart is breaking."

Santana was silent for a moment before she narrowed her eyes at him "If you're going to lie you could at least come up with something that I would actually believe. What the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway? 'Her heart is breaking'?"

"It means exactly that." The Doctor answered, not at all fazed by Santana's disbelief "She's holding too many emotions inside…More than any one human should hold and thus her heart is breaking in a very literal way."

"Wha…Wait a minute." Santana lifted a hand to her forehead, already feeling the oncoming of a headache "What do you mean by that? How could she have more emotions than she should have? It doesn't make sense."

"She has somebody else's emotions…They're not her own yet they're somehow connected to her own or else the fusion of the two wouldn't work."

"How could she have gotten somebody else's emotions 'inside' of her?" Santana questioned, looking completely confused "That's impossible."

"We don't know." The Doctor confessed.

"Whose emotions are they?"

"We don't know."

"Well how do we fix it? How do we get them out or whatever?"

"We don't know that either."

"Well than what the hell GOOD are you?"

"Santana." The Doctor murmured quietly.

"Look, I'm sorry okay?" Santana threaded her hands through her hair and sat down. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself "Okay…It's okay. I mean they're only emotions and emotions can't seriously hurt you…They just make you feel like shit. So Brittany is going to be fine. She's going to be perfectly fine until we find a way to fix this." She opened her eyes and gave the Doctor and Rose an expectant look "Right?"

Rose glanced away awkwardly, unable to meet the Latina's hopeful gaze.

"Or…not?" Santana questioned in a despondent whisper when neither of them agreed with her.

"Serious injury isn't completely out of the question." The Doctor answered carefully "You have to remember that Brittany is overloading on emotions."

"So…what you're saying is that she could spontaneously combust or something?"

"Since spontaneous human combustion pertains to the unproven phenomena of human tissues burning without any apparent cause…No." the Doctor answered "The emotions _themselves_ couldn't hurt her."

"But you just said serious injury wasn't out of the question!" Santana exclaimed, clearly frustrated by the Doctor's contradicting answers.

"He means that she could hurt herself." Rose answered simply.

There was a brief moment of silence before Santana shook her head "That's ridiculous. Brittany would never do anything like that."

"How can you be so sure?" Rose asked curiously.

"I already told you. She's my best friend. I know her more than I know _myself_…and I know that she wouldn't do anything to hurt herself. That's just not who Brittany is."

"Imagine your moment of greatest pain." The Doctor suggested as he leant back against the central controls "A moment when you were sure that your heart was _literally_ breaking inside of your chest."

Santana shifted uncomfortably, the vivid memory of Brittany rejecting her instantly surfacing in her mind. She swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat and replied quietly "But I didn't _hurt_ myself because of it. And Bri…"

"Now double the intensity." The Doctor interrupted before Santana could make any more objections "If you did you would have some idea of how Brittany feels right now."

Santana stared at him in silence for a moment, unable to fathom anything more painful than how she had felt during and after pouring her heart out to Brittany at her locker "Oh God."

The Doctor smiled sadly as he watched the severity of the situation sink in "Exactly."

"I can't even…I can't even imagine…"

"You shouldn't be able to." The Doctor stated firmly "Nobody should be able to feel like that."

"But…you can, right?" Santana looked up at him "You felt it didn't you? When you did whatever you did to her in the choir room?"

"Yes."

"I want to know what it feels like." Santana squared her shoulders and determinedly stood up "Can you show me?"

The Doctor appeared shocked by the request and he cast a glance at an equally stunned looking Rose before turning back to Santana "I could but I won't."

"Why not?"

"It's not natural for somebody to feel that much." The Doctor responded "I wouldn't feel comfortable inflicting something like that upon you."

"Couldn't you show me without leaving it there permanently?" Santana demanded to know "Could you just give me a glimpse of what it's like?"

"Yes but I don't…"

"Then I want to." Santana stated, her voice strangely calm "I want to understand what she's feeling. Right now I can't even imagine what she's going through so there's no way I could help but if you show me I could at least do _something_ to ease whatever it is."

The Doctor stared at her intently for a moment before finally nodding "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Doctor, you can't seriously be thinking of doing this!" Rose exclaimed nervously "If it was enough to hurt _you_…"

"It's her choice." The Doctor gave Rose a 'trust me' look before turning back to Santana. He stepped forward and placed his hands lightly on her cheeks, his fingers resting atop her temples "I would suggest you hold onto me…When you experience my memory of the feeling your first instinct is going to be to pull away."

Santana nodded and cautiously gripped the Doctor's upper arms "Okay."

"It's going to hurt." The Doctor warned as he opened his eyes to look at the girl in front of him. He regarded her intently, noting the fear present in her eyes. He was instinctively aware that the Santana didn't fear for her own wellbeing but rather Brittany's.

"I don't care." Santana tightened her grip on the Doctor and closed her eyes "Just do it."

The Doctor shot Rose a final glance before he closed his eyes and concentrated on his experience of Brittany's pain. His brow furrowed as he concentrated intently upon the memory and the rapid thudding of Santana's pulse under his fingers, trying to push the feeling outwards. He winced as the remnants of the painful sensation passed through him but he valiantly continued the process. After a moment he felt Santana tense under his hands and her grip on his arms reached the point of pain, indicating that the transfer was working.

Santana inhaled sharply as the unidentified sensation passed into her body. The emotions it carried were painful beyond anything she had ever felt before and she had to force herself to hang onto the Doctor in an attempt to fight the urge to run. She gritted her teeth, a whimper of pain escaping her as she focused on the burning sensation in her chest. The Doctor was right about the feeling…it felt like the day at her locker in the sense that the overwhelming feeling of love was present, along with the rejection, the hurt and the betrayal. The only difference was that the feelings had intensified to the point that Santana felt like they were literally consuming her. She vaguely heard a soft sob and the next thing she was aware of was the hard ground underneath her and the feeling of fabric against her face.

"Oh God…" she breathed in slowly and deliberately and pressed closer to the person holding onto her.

"It's okay." The Doctor whispered soothingly.

Santana reluctantly pulled back by a couple of inches and glanced around to assess the situation. Her sudden vantage point suggested that she must have crumbled to the floor and she surmised that since she was clutching the Doctor, he must have willingly went with her "W-What happened?" she looked at the Doctor who loomed slightly above her and Rose who was kneeling next to her.

"It's gone." The Doctor assured her quietly "Your body reacted to the intensity of the emotions inside of you…You semi blacked out."

Santana felt dampness on her cheeks and realised they were wet with tears "She…she said she hurts _all_ of the time." She glanced at the Doctor "Is that how she feels?"

"I'm not going to lie to you…That is the pain at a medium level." The Doctor answered gently "But I have to point out that it's not like that all of the time. At times it's completely non-existent."

"But she feels worse than that?" Santana asked fearfully "Worse than…what I just felt?"

"Yes. It depe…"

"I have to go." Santana heaved herself away from the Doctor and hurried to stand up "I have to go to her. I can't just leave her like that. I have to…I have to go." she rushed to the TARDIS door, only to find it was locked "Open the door!"

"I can get you there faster." The Doctor informed her.

Santana hesitated for a moment before she nodded brusquely and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Do you need anything?" the Doctor asked rather distractedly as he began to fiddle with the central controls "There are likely to be a couple of…aftershocks for lack of a better word but I can make you forget about the feeling if you need me to."

Santana shook her head as she walked back to him "I don't want to forget." She watched him intently for a moment and hesitated before speaking again "You can time travel."

"Yes."

"Well…You should be able change the past, right?" Santana asked hopefully "So if we went back I could change something that I said…couldn't I? I could fix things."

The Doctor paused in his movements and shook his head "I'm sorry. You can't cross into your own timeline. There would be two of you and a paradox would definitely be created."

Santana visibly deflated upon hearing the answer.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

"You okay Britt?" Quinn questioned as she glanced over at the silent blonde who was currently sitting on the far end of Rachel's couch. On the way to the car park Rachel had suggested that they go to her house instead of Quinn's since it was closer and her fathers were at work "You're being really quiet today."

Brittany shrugged and offered Quinn a tight lipped smile "I'm fine. I just miss Santana."

"If…" Quinn hesitated for a moment unsure as to what Brittany's reaction to her question would be. The taller blonde's emotions had after all been rather unpredictable over the past three days. Finally Quinn's curiosity won out and she continued quietly "If you miss Santana then why did you sit away from her today in Glee club? It kind of seemed like you were using me as some kind of shield."

"I was."

"Oh…" Quinn frowned at the simplistic answer "I don't think I understand Britt. Why would you do that?"

"It hurts more when I'm close to her." Brittany admitted in a whisper. A tense silence followed and her gaze quickly shot to Quinn "You won't tell her that, will you? It would only make her feel bad…"

Quinn silently shook her head, utterly confused by the answer she had received.

"Okay…" Rachel beamed as she walked into the room and past Quinn to sit cross legged on the couch. She palace her open laptop in the couch between herself and Brittany "Brittany, I've devised a plan to determine what is wrong with you. I've typed your symptoms or at least the ones that I know of into Google…" she tapped enter on her keyboard and clicked on the top link "And I received a number of different suggestions."

"Okay…?" Brittany stated questioningly.

Quinn leaned close to the brunette and peered over her shoulder at the screen "Are you serious? There's no way in hell Brittany is…that! Have you _met_ her?"

Rachel frowned at Quinn's disagreement "I'm going to read out the symptoms and all you have to do is tell me if you have them…okay?"

Brittany shrugged in response "I guess."

"Okay…Are you experiencing low moods or sadness?"

"Yeah…"

Rachel skipped the tearfulness symptom since she already knew the answer "Feeling of hopelessness or helplessness?"

Brittany turned slightly on the couch to face Rachel and offered a nod in response to the question.

"Reduced sex drive?"

"I haven't had sex since…" Brittany chewed on her bottom lip as she felt a familiar ache rising in her chest "I mean I can't…"

"It's okay Britt." Quinn spoke up as she moved to sit on the arm of the chair next to Rachel "We'll skip that one."

"But if we don't get an answer the results could be inaccurate and lead to a misdiagnosis." Rachel argued reasonably "It's important that we take all of her symptoms into account."

"Thank you Dr Berry." Quinn rolled her eyes at the brunette before leaning close and lowering her voice "If you don't want Brittany to cry you'll skip the question."

Rachel shivered slightly at the sensation of Quinn's breath on her neck and quickly agreed "F-fine. Um…lack of enjoyment?"

"Sometimes." Brittany answered with a half-hearted shrug "The good stuff doesn't feel as good as it did before so…I guess."

"Okay…" Rachel nodded and scrolled down "Do you feel anxious or worried?"

Brittany nodded "Uh-huh."

"Has your movement or speech slowed noticeably or are you experiencing a lack of energy?"

"No." Quinn answered on Brittany's behalf "I would have noticed that and she still dances as brilliantly as she always has."

Brittany shot Quinn a weak smile at the compliment "Thanks Q."

"Anytime Britt." Quinn returned the smile despite her rising concern for the other blonde.

"Change in appetite or weight?" Rachel continued obliviously.

Brittany hesitated for a moment before nodding "I haven't eaten for a few days…I don't really feel like it anymore. I just feel sick all of the time."

Quinn and Rachel both made mental notes to warn Santana.

"Disturbed sleep patterns for example problems going to sleep or waking up in the early hours of the morning…?" Rachel read.

"Yeah…I wake up a lot during the night." Brittany answered, glancing apologetically at Quinn who had been witness to the first time she had experienced the symptom.

Quinn shook her head in response as if to tell Brittany for the umpteenth time that she had nothing to be sorry about.

Rachel didn't notice the exchange as her gaze was fixed intently on her laptop screen "Taking part in fewer social activities and avoiding contact with friends…?"

"No…I don't think so." Brittany answered thoughtfully. She glanced questioningly at Quinn "I still hang out with you so I'm not avoiding contact…right?"

"Right." Quinn agreed with a nod "So that's a no."

Rachel nodded and moved onto the next bullet point "Thoughts of harming yours…?"

"Skip it." Quinn demanded firmly.

"What?" Rachel frowned and tilted her head to look at the nervous blonde behind her "But Quinn we need to know for Brittany's sake. If she does…"

"I said skip it Rachel." Quinn stated.

"I don't think we should skip it just because you're concerned about the answer." Rachel countered despite the glower that was being sent her way "Ignorance may be bliss but knowledge is power. If Brittany were to do something of that nature and we had neglected to at least ask her about it I'm sure you would be overwhelmed with guilt…am I right?"

"Skip it." Quinn repeated seriously "Brittany wouldn't do that and I don't want this stupid website putting those thoughts into her head…okay?"

Rachel looked like she was going to argue for a moment before her shoulders slumped and she nodded in resignation. She turned back to her laptop and made a mental note to subtly ask Brittany about it later "Difficulties in home and family life?"

Brittany shrugged "My Mom says that I'm moody…That she hardly recognises me anymore."

"Last question…have you been experiencing unexplained aches and pains?"

Brittany didn't hesitate to nod "I hurt all of the time."

Quinn frowned, vaguely remembering Brittany say that sentence once before "What do you mean Britt? Where does it hurt?"

Brittany hesitated, realising she couldn't pin point the exact location of the pain "Everywhere. It hurts…everywhere." She noticed Quinn was about to question her further and quickly changed the subject "So what's wrong with me?"

"According to this…" Rachel nervously bit her lip "You fit the criteria of somebody going through moderate depression."

"Your test must be wrong." Quinn stated as she stood up from the couch "Brittany can't be depressed. She's like the _antonym_ of depressed."

"Quinn…"

"I don't want to hear it Rachel." Quinn interrupted "Your stupid test doesn't work." She shook her head in disbelief "I'm going to call Santana to tell her where we are."

Rachel watched Quinn exit the room and frowned thoughtfully, vaguely wondering how she had somehow managed to overlook how much Quinn obviously cared about Brittany. Usually she was very perceptive but it seemed like she had been completely oblivious to the friendship between the three ex-cheerios.

"She's just worried." Brittany said quietly as she watched Rachel's expression. She waited until the girl in question looked at her before continuing "She doesn't mean to say that your test is stupid. She just reacts that way when she's scared…I guess she's kind of like Santana in that way so don't be too offended."

Rachel shut her laptop with a soft thud and placed it on the floor before she moved over a seat "Okay."

"I'm going to go home." Brittany stated uncomfortably after a moment of silence. She stood up from her seat and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans "Could you tell Quinn I'll call her later?"

"What?" Rachel quickly stood up when it dawned on her what Brittany was doing "I don't think Quinn wants you to leave Brittany."

Brittany shrugged in response "I have homework to do."

"We don't have any homework."

"I need to make sure Lord Tubbington hasn't been reading my diary again. He keeps picking the lock."

Rachel wavered slightly, uncertain as to why Brittany wanted to go home so badly "Did I do something to upset you or something?"

"No…I just have to go." Brittany answered without meeting Rachel's eyes "My Mom will be getting worried."

Rachel placed her hand on Brittany's arm, already contemplating the type of apology cookies she should make "Brittany if I did something to offend you, you can tell me."

Brittany shrugged meekly "You didn't do anything."

"Will you at least wait until Santana gets here?" Rachel beseeched "If she comes over and finds out I let you walk home by yourself she might kill me."

Brittany hesitated for a moment before she nodded and sat back on the couch.

"Are you sure I didn't do something?" Rachel asked as retook her seat next to Brittany.

"You didn't." Brittany answered with a shake of her head. She hesitated for a moment before speaking up again "Rachel?"

"Yes, Brittany?" Rachel leaned slightly closer as Brittany's voice lowered in volume.

"Finn said you wouldn't want to be friends with me." Brittany stated in a way that would have been matter of fact, had her voice not been so shaky "And you said that we aren't friends when we were at Quinn's house." Rachel was slightly shocked by the reason Brittany had wanted to leave but she quickly reasoned that after the blondes' reaction in Glee club she should have realised that the issue would come up again. She was about to respond when Brittany continued quickly. "I know I'm not as smart as you are and I don't really understand a lot of what you talk about sometimes, especially when you use all of those big words but I'm not dumb…Santana says I just think differently to everyone else and that's not a bad thing because being the same as other people is boring." She noticed Rachel open her mouth to reply and assuming that the brunette was going to argue she quickly continued "And I know I'm not much fun to be around right now because I'm moody and not the same as I was before but I can try to get back to normal."

Rachel waited until Brittany finished talking before she grasped the other blondes' hand "Brittany." She made sure the other girl was looking into her eyes before continuing "You are without a doubt my friend. Possibly the best friend I have right now."

"Really?" Brittany's eyes lit up at the statement "But…what about the cheerios?"

"I never regarded you as one of them." Rachel answered with a shrug "Unlike the rest of them you didn't take it upon yourself to make my school life a living hell."

"But I didn't help either…"

"On the contrary…I remember that you once gave me a towel and a spare shirt when I was slushied twice in one day. You said you felt bad because it had been Santana who had ordered the slushy in question."

Brittany frowned, the event not seeming enough for her to regard it as making a difference "But you said that you weren't my friend like…four days ago?"

"I only said that because I wasn't aware that you thought of me as your friend." Rachel answered with a small smile "I've always regarded you as _my_ friend though I've never made a move to affirm or encourage our friendship."

Brittany grinned for the first time in days upon hearing the statement before something occurred to her "But…Why would you want to be now? I'm not the same as before…I'm all depressed and stuff."

"Brittany." Rachel gently squeezed Brittany's hand and offered her a warm smile "I don't know of anyone who _wouldn't_ want to be your friend if they knew you. You are without a doubt the sweetest, most…unique person I've ever met. The fact that you're going through a tough time right now does nothing to change that."

"Really?"

"Really." Rachel confirmed honestly.

Brittany beamed at the response, the not entirely unpleasant but too powerful feeling in her chest bringing tears to her eyes. Without thinking she shifted forward and pressed her lips against Rachel's, her hands coming to rest on the other girls cheeks. Rachel squeaked at the sudden unexpected contact and her hands instinctively flew to Brittany's shoulders, fully intending to push her gently away. When her hands reached their intended destination however, they hovered lamely for a moment before merely gripping onto the shirt they rested on.

Unseen by Brittany or Rachel, Quinn watched in shock from the doorway as Rachel neglected to push Brittany away and instead opted to return the kiss. Quinn had been listening to the conversation intently, a small smile tugging at her lips upon hearing Rachel's sweet reassurances but the sudden turn of events had been completely unexpected. She tightened her grip on her phone and watched Rachel subtly tug Brittany closer, the kiss clearly deepening. Brittany had shifted one hand behind Rachel's head to increase the pressure of the kiss, leaving the other resting on her cheek. Quinn noted with a flush that while one of Rachel's hands still rested on Brittany's shoulder, the other had disappeared between them. She swallowed heavily, slightly confused by the sickening feeling of jealousy that was beginning to spread throughout her body. Worried, she quickly began to search her brain for excuses for the sudden sensation. Perhaps her jealousy stemmed from the fact that she was still single and had been for a while. Or maybe, she reasoned, she was jealous because Brittany had opted to kiss Rachel despite the fact that Quinn was A) Single B)Her long term friend and C) Available. Quinn frowned…that sounded gay even in her head. She didn't have time to worry about the thought however as with a gasp, the two girls in the living room broke the kiss.

"Brittany…" Rachel muttered, lifting her hand thoughtfully to her lips "Why…I don't…Wow."

Upon noticing Rachel's shocked expression Brittany quickly pulled her hands away "I'm sorry, Rachel! I didn't…I didn't mean to. I just wanted to…I just felt like kissing you and it was like I couldn't help it…"

Quinn frowned at the blurted out apology. Brittany never apologised to anybody after she had kissed them…she just did it if she wanted to.

"It's…It's okay." Rachel reassured her, sounding quite dazed "I'm not mad at you or anything. It's…That was just very unexpected. That's all."

The look she was giving Brittany was one of tempted wonder and Quinn quickly coughed to announce her presence before they engaged in any more jealousy inducing lip locks.

Rachel swung around with a guilty look on her face "Quinn!" she squeaked.

Quinn raised her eyebrows in way that made Rachel squirm uncomfortably "Rachel."

"I…We were just…" Rachel motioned nervously to Brittany who was still hovering approximately two inches behind her "I mean…That didn't mean anything." She laughed nervously "It was just kissing w-which I'm sure you see a lot of and obviously have vast experience of b-because how could you not? I mean you're quite…delectable if you don't mind me saying so and well…Yes, I believe I've effectively made my point."

Quinn quirked her eyebrow at Rachel's interesting use of the word 'delectable' but she couldn't help but find the brunettes stuttering rather endearing "Santana in on her way."

Rachel's eyes widened in panic and she moved away from Brittany so quickly that she almost tumbled right off the couch. Quinn couldn't help but giggle at the display.

"Can I use your bathroom Rach?" Brittany asked innocently as she stood up from the couch.

"O-of course Brittany." Rachel was barely able to meet Brittany's eyes as a faint blush covered her cheeks "It's upstairs. The second door on your right."

As Brittany walked past Quinn lightly tapped her fellow blondes' right hand and offered her a small smile "That one Britt."

"Thanks Q." Brittany returned the smile, elated by the sudden lightness of her chest. Since the week before there had been a weight bearing down on her but after kissing Rachel, the feeling seemed to have dulled slightly.

Quinn watched as Brittany walked out of the room before she slipped onto the couch next to a still bright red Rachel "So Brittany, huh?"

Rachel groaned and dropped her head into her hands "Santana is going to _kill_ me."

Quinn chuckled and offered the brunette a sympathetic pat on the back.

**TBC **


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is way too long and…ramble-y. Sorry about that. I kind of just started writing and I had some things that I needed to put out there so I just kept going and going and…well you get it. It's ramble-y. And I kept getting distracted by my iffy sentence structure…I'll have to work on that. But anyway, thanks for all of your comments and I hope you like my ramble-y chapter. **

Chapter 7

"I'm going to go back to receiving slushy facials on a daily basis. Wait, no…more like an hourly basis. She's going to make the rest of my school life a living hell."

Quinn's brow furrowed at the statement "Santana doesn't do that anymore. She's the leader of that beat bullying thing or whatever it's called."

"She'll make an exception." Rachel's voice was slightly muffled by the cushion her face was pressed into "She'll be hiding around every corner just waiting to catch me unawares so she can hurl a slushy in my face or trip me up. She'll spread rumours about me and fill my locker with dirt or worse. I'll have to be home schooled!"

"No offense but I really don't think Santana cares about you enough to do any of that."

"Didn't you hear what Brittany said?" Rachel finally peeked out from behind the cushion "Santana is in love with her. She is in love with Brittany…the girl who kissed me, the girl who I for _some_ reason kissed back, the girl who is going to result in my untimely demise, the girl I was approximately 2 seconds away from gro…"

Quinn held up a hand, rather irritated by Rachel's dramatics "I know who Brittany is. Thinking of new ways to refer to her really isn't necessary."

"Quinn, this is serious!" Rachel was clearly panicked at the thought of Santana finding out about the kiss "Santana is going to _kill_ me. She's going to come here, find out I kissed the person she is in love with an…"

As if on cue the doorbell rang, effectively cutting off Rachel's alarmed babbling. The brunette bolted up in her seat, wearing a look not dissimilar to that of a deer caught in headlights "Oh my Barbra, she's _here!"_

"If there's anything that can be said about Santana, it's that she has perfect timing." Quinn muttered agreeably.

"What should I do?" Rachel fretted as she grabbed Quinn's arm "Maybe…maybe I should hide."

"Rachel it's _your_ house." Quinn pointed out reasonably "And you have to answer the door."

As if she had heard the statement Santana rang the doorbell three more times in rapid succession.

"She doesn't like to be kept waiting." Quinn thoughtfully advised "An impatient Santana is an angry Santana. Just act normal and she won't suspect a thing."

"Right...normal." Rachel muttered as she stood up from the couch and smoothed out her argyle sweater "I can be normal…I'm a strong, confident young woman and I will not cower before the natural disaster known as Santana Lopez. As an aspiring actress I should find it quite easy to act normal." She nodded to herself as she turned and walked out of the room.

"I don't think you can." Quinn muttered under her breath as she stood up and followed the Diva into the hallway. She got there just in time to see Rachel open the door, revealing a pissed off Latina standing in the doorway.

"Well it fucking took long enough." Santana glowered as she pushed past Rachel into the house "It's a damn good job it's not winter or I would have frozen to death out there."

Quinn rolled her eyes upon hearing the statement. Maybe Rachel and Santana weren't all that different after all if their penchant for dramatics was anything to go on. She knew better than to suggest that that was the case however, especially when Santana was in a bad mood. It seemed Rachel too had picked up on the annoyed vibe radiating from Santana as she looked somewhat petrified and she hadn't closed the door.

"Shut the door Rachel." Quinn advised.

"Oh…yes of course." Rachel nodded and pushed the door shut with a nervous laugh "Can I get you anything Santana? A drink? Maybe some coffee? You do after all look rather exhausted. Or I could make you some hot chocolate? I've been told many times, mainly by Finn and my fathers of course that my hot chocolate is incredibly satisfactory and…"

"For the love of God shut _up_!" Santana exclaimed irritably "Seriously Berry, I'm not in the mood to deal with your hour long rants right now."

"Sorry." Rachel apologised quietly.

Quinn on the other hand looked rather annoyed by Santana's typical rudeness "Santana, you can't speak to her like that in her own house."

"Yeah?" Santana sneered "Who's going to stop me Tubbers? You know that I could ta…" she suddenly paused midsentence, realising that she would have usually been rebuked around that point by a very different blonde "Wait…Where is Brittany?"

"She went to the bathroom." Rachel answered, somewhat awkwardly upon hearing Brittany's name. She glanced at Quinn and frowned thoughtfully. She had been so busy worrying about what Santana was going to do to her that she'd forgotten all about the blonde dancer "About…15 minutes ago." She turned her attention back to Santana just in time to see her visibly pale in horror.

"No, no, no, no…" Santana gasped before she roughly shoved past Quinn and sprinted towards the stairs "BRITT!" she took the steps two at a time, unaware that Rachel and Quinn were following her, obviously concerned by her behaviour "BRITTANY!" she reached the top of the stairs after almost tripping over her own feet due to her fast pace. She paused at the top and glanced around, her heart hammering agitatedly against her chest.

"Go to the…" Rachel was about to advise Santana to head to the right, but the ex-cheerio was already hurrying in that direction. As they followed Santana down the hallway, Rachel glanced at Quinn to see she was wearing an alarmed expression.

"BRITTANY!" Santana practically screamed as she pounded on the only door that was completely shut "BRITTANY, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" There was a split second of silence from the other side and Santana slammed her palm against the solid wood in front of her "BRITTANY!"

Rachel was slightly concerned for the welfare of her door, taking into account the hammering it was receiving but Santana's blatant terror was unnerving enough for her to push that aside.

"BRITTANY!" Santana shouted fearfully as she continued to bang on the door "BRITTANY OPEN THE DOOR OR I SWEAR I'M KICKI…_" _she trailed off as the door was pulled open to reveal a confused looking Brittany standing there.

"San?" Brittany questioned, confused by the terrified look on Santana's face "Are you okay? What's…?"

Without a word Santana surged forward and wrapped the blonde in a tight embrace, knocking her back a couple of steps into the bathroom "Britt." She stepped back and clutched Brittany's wrists to pull her arms up to eye level, checking for any signs of injury "Did you…are you…" Santana stumbled nervously over her words "Are you hurt?"

The blonde hesitated for a moment, slightly confused by the question "No."

"Promise me." Santana demanded, tightening her grip on Brittany's wrist "Promise me you're not."

"I-I promise." Brittany answered with a slight wince "San, you're hurting me."

"I'm sorry," Santana quickly let go of Brittany's wrist when she realised exactly how tight her grip had become. When Brittany idly rubbed her wrist, Santana blinked back oncoming tears and moved forward to hug her "I'm so sorry Britt."

"Are you mad at me?" Brittany shifted slightly to lower her hands between them before lifting her arms to return the embrace. She was slightly confused by Santana's subtle quivering against her but she had missed their frequent hugs so she wasn't about to let the chance to revel in one pass by "You were yelling. I'm sorry I took so long to open the door…I got dizzy so I had to sit down and I didn't notice how long I was up here."

"I'm sorry." Santana whispered again "I'm not mad at you B. I promise. I'm just…" she sighed and pulled away to place her hands on Brittany's cheeks "Just don't do that to me again, okay?"

Brittany nodded, though she was unsure as to what she was agreeing to.

"Not to interrupt or anything…" Quinn finally spoke up from behind them "But is anyone going to tell us what's going on?"

Santana self-consciously wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before she turned around to face Quinn and Rachel who were hovering at the door "Nothing. Everything is fine."

Quinn felt a flare of irritation upon hearing the obvious lie "Because running around Rachel's house screaming your head off really suggests that everything is fine."

Santana shrugged in response "So?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute, San?" Quinn asked obviously trying to remain calm despite her simmering irritation "Alone?"

Rachel warily glanced between the two friends who were in the middle of staring each other down "Brittany and I will go downstairs. Just…please try to refrain from smashing things."

"Can I trust you two to be alone together?" Quinn asked, raising an expectant eyebrow at Rachel.

The brunette in question instantly looked towards Santana, a guilty expression on her face "W-well of course."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Santana frowned "Why wouldn't you trust them to be alone together?"

Quinn faltered when Rachel turned to her with wide and pleading eyes "Well, they always end up having endless conversations about music. It's nothing really…they just get way too enthusiastic about it."

"Uh-huh." Santana narrowed her eyes at Quinn, not entirely convinced.

"We should go." Rachel told Brittany, eager to escape the room before Santana questioned Quinn further "Quinn…"

"We won't break anything." Quinn rolled her eyes at the diva's assumption that her discussion with Santana was going to end in a fight.

"Okay than…We'll be downstairs if you need us." Rachel stated before she looked to Brittany, obviously expecting her to move.

"San, you need to let go." Brittany advised in a whisper.

"Huh?" Santana glanced at Brittany to see she was staring at the space between them. She followed the blondes gaze to see she had unconsciously entwined their fingers together and Brittany was currently trying to pull her hand away "Oh, right!" she flushed slightly and reluctantly released Brittany's hand "Sorry."

Brittany smiled warmly and looked like she was going to say something before she glanced at Quinn and thought better of it "I'll…see you downstairs?"

"Sure." Santana flashed Brittany a small smile and waited until the blonde had walked out of the room with Rachel before she allowed it to drop.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

Santana sighed and turned around, bracing herself by placing her hands on either side of the sink. It seemed as if her experience in the TARDIS had weakened her not only emotionally but also physically. She had only been able to run up the stairs because of the adrenaline pounding through her veins and even that had begun to wear off "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that Santana. I know that there's something wrong with Brittany _and _I know that you know what it is."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Santana repeated wearily.

"Why were you checking her arms?" Quinn demanded to know as she stepped closer "Do you know something I don't?"

"Drop it Quinn, you wouldn't understand."

"Santana!" Quinn lightly grasped Santana's arm and whirled her around to face her "Brittany is my friend too…"

"As you keep reminding me." Santana muttered under her breath.

"I deserve to know." Quinn continued firmly. She took a deep breath before she proceeded to ask the question that felt wrong even before it passed her lips "Is Brittany…hurting herself?"

"No."

"But why were you…"

"Because I thought she might!" Santana interrupted loudly. She inhaled slowly in an effort to calm herself before speaking in a lower voice "I think she might."

"Why do you think that?" Quinn asked, looking concerned and confused at the same time "Did she say something to you?"

"It's complicated." Santana muttered.

"How is it complicated? Either she did say something or she didn't…It's not a difficult question Santana!"

"Stop fucking yelling at me Fabray!" Santana exclaimed irritably "I have a headache!"

"No wonder with all of the screaming you were doing before." Quinn countered. She fell into silence for a moment as she watched Santana buckle slightly "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Santana answered as she all but fell towards the shut toilet where she proceeded to sit down "I just have a headache. I told you."

Quinn moved to kneel in front of the Latina and peered up at her with concerned eyes. Their close proximity finally allowed her to see the faint silver trails on Santana's cheeks "You've been crying."

"No, I haven't." Santana argued defensively though she knew that it was blatantly obvious that she had in fact been doing just that.

"San." Quinn placed her hand lightly on Santana's knee and waited until the other girl met her gaze "Talk to me. I can help if you just _talk to me_."

Santana wavered unsurely for a moment, searching for truth in Quinn's eyes before she finally responded "I'm scared Quinn…I'm _really_ fucking scared for her."

Quinn was silent for a moment as she contemplated her friend's expression "Santana…"

"And quit looking at me like that." Santana ordered, turning partially away from Quinn's soft eyes "Or you're going to make me fucking cry again."

Quinn frowned at the statement. Seeing Santana cry was unusual; actually _making_ her cry was even more of a strange occurrence. Usually both of those rights were reserved for Brittany, and Brittany only "Sorry."

Santana shook her head "It's not your fault. I'm just…ugh." She exhaled heavily, trying in vain to rid herself of the mess of emotions still remaining from her experience with the Doctor "I'm such a mess right now."

"Tell me what's going on." Quinn ordered, though her tone was gentle as opposed to the demanding tone she would have usually used.

"I wish I could." Santana answered honestly "But if I told you what's wrong with Brittany, I would have to tell you something else too and…it's just not my secret to tell."

"Brittany has a _secret_?" Quinn asked incredulously. Since she had met the taller blonde in first grade it had become apparent that Brittany couldn't keep a secret to save her life, at least not her own secrets.

"No," Santana shook her head "It's not Brittany's secret."

Quinn frowned, slightly confused as to how Santana telling her something about Brittany could lead to a revelation about somebody else "Wait…Is somebody else hurting her? Is it someone from school?"

"What? No!" Santana answered quickly "You seriously think I would allow _anyone_ to get away with hurting her, let alone cover up for them?"

Quinn took a moment to ponder the response. It was indeed true that if anyone had hurt Brittany, Santana wouldn't have been standing around in a bathroom. Instead she would be kicking the crap out of the perpetrator or else she would already be detained in a jail cell "I don't know how I can help if you won't tell me what's going on."

"Just…promise me you'll look out for her if I'm not around." Santana answered after a moment of thought "You'll look out for any signs that she's…you know."

Quinn nodded understandingly and placed her hand atop Santana's "Of course I will."

Santana turned her hand over to grasp Quinn's. She sat there for a moment, merely focusing on breathing through the lingering pain in her chest. For her part, Quinn just stayed silent and watched her friend in concern. Finally Santana opened her eyes and offered Quinn a grateful though clearly pained smile "Thanks Quinn."

Quinn shrugged as she moved to stand up gently pulling Santana with her "I didn't do anything." She released the other girls' hand and gently nudged her "I suggest you clean your face or something before we go downstairs…you look like you've just watched Titanic on loop."

"Bitch." Santana smirked as she walked over to the sink.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

"Brittany? I have something I wish to discuss with you."

"You sound like San's Mom." Brittany frowned as she curled her legs underneath her body on the couch "Are you in some kind of club with her?"

Rachel paused, unsure as to how to respond to the statement "Um…No, I'm not. But Brittany…"

"Why are you standing all the way over there?" Brittany interrupted "Does my breath like…smell or something? Because I haven't been eating lately so I don't know why it would." Nevertheless she exhaled on her hand before cautiously sniffing it "No…Dr Pepper and Mint."

Rachel was momentarily distracted as recalled the taste of Dr Pepper, spearmint and something uniquely Brittany on her tongue.

"Rach?"

Rachel quickly shook herself out of her daydream upon hearing Brittany's voice "Sorry. It's not that. Your breath is fine. Perfect even. I just think that leaving a certain amount of space between us would prevent the situation from getting out of hand again."

"Okay?" Brittany responded cluelessly.

"I wanted to talk about our…encounter on the couch earlier." Rachel said, taking a small step forward.

"You mean when I kissed you?"

"Yes." Rachel glanced shiftily towards the stairs "I don't think it should happen again."

Brittany's lips instantly formed a pout "You didn't like it? Nobody else has ever said they didn't…"

"No!" Rachel exclaimed quickly, worried that she had unintentionally offended the usually bubbly blonde "I mean yes. It was…nice. Very nice in fact. But I'm with Finn and you're waiting for Santana so pursuing anything like a relationship at this point would be rather foolish."

"But it was just a kiss." Brittany pointed out innocently "I didn't say I wanted to date you."

Rachel flushed slightly, though she was aware that Brittany didn't mean the statement as anything other than matter of fact "Yes, I know. However either way I don't think we should tell Santana about this."

"You want me to lie to her?"

"Not _lie_." Rachel answered slowly "Just don't tell her about it."

"Isn't that the same as lying though?" Brittany asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Lying would be directly telling her that you didn't kiss me…Omitting a certain part of your day isn't exactly lying, it's just not telling the truth."

"But if it's not telling the truth it _is_ lying." Brittany informed her seriously "I don't think there can be something in the middle."

Rachel groaned in frustration and quickly changed tactics. She stepped forward until she was standing right in front of the blonde and pouted sadly "Brittany, if Santana finds out about what happened she'll _kill_ me."

"She wouldn't kill you." Brittany responded confidently.

"How do you know that?" Rachel asked in alarm "Taking into account Santana's history of violence, the obvious fact that she hates _and _the fact that she is in love with you it is reasonable to say that she would react badly if she were to find out that I kissed you. Hence she would be likely to cause me bodily harm."

"I'd ask her not to."

"But Briiiittany…"

"Rachel." Brittany cut the brunette off as she reached out to grasp her hand "If it makes you feel any better I won't tell Santana right now…But I can't keep it from her forever."

Rachel was about to reply when a voice interrupted her from the doorway.

"What's going on in here?" Santana narrowed her eyes at the sight before her as jealousy flared in her gut.

Quinn curiously eyed Rachel and Brittany's clasped hands and raised expectant eyebrows at the frozen Diva.

"Nothing!" Rachel eventually squeaked as she pulled her hand away from Brittany's "We weren't doing anything."

Santana didn't respond audibly but she sent Rachel a warning look that was strong enough to make her take a step back.

Brittany on the other hand jumped up from her seat and made her way over to Santana who was still hovering in the doorway with Quinn "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Britt." Santana shot the blonde a small smile and allowed herself to be pulled into the living room "I'm sorry I yelled at you before."

Brittany shrugged the apology off "It's okay."

"You seem happier than you were in Glee club." Santana observed quietly as she subtly squeezed Brittany's hand.

"Rachel sort of fixed me."

Santana was about to ask exactly _how_ Rachel had fixed Brittany when she noticed the Diva herself engaging in some kind of silent conversation with Quinn. Pretending to be focused on the girl in front of her, Santana turned slightly so that both Quinn and Rachel were in her sight. She watched for a moment as they conversed with only looks before it started to irritate her "Alright, what the hell are you two doing?"

"What?" Quinn's gaze quickly shot to Santana's "We're not doing anything."

"You're doing some weird kind of telepathy thing." Santana accused as she motioned between them "It's fucking creepy."

"Please," Quinn rolled her eyes "As if you and Britt don't constantly do the same thing." She paused for a moment reflecting upon what she had said but she wisely chose to ignore the implications.

"And if I may point out…" Rachel spoke up "While I am known to have a certain sixth sense, telepathy with another person is not something I am yet able to ca…"

Thankfully (In Santana's opinion) the front door opened and closed, effectively cutting off what was sure to be another of Rachel's rants.

"Rachel, we're home!" a male voice called from the hallway. The group of girls fell into silence and a moment later two men walked into the room.

"Oh..." the taller man said with a quizzical smile "I didn't realise that you had company tonight Rachel."

"It was…kind of last minute." Rachel responded with a shrug "Dad, Daddy…this is Brittany, Quinn and Santana. My f…" she stumbled slightly on the word 'friends', realising that the only person she had a secure friendship with was Brittany "They're from school."

"Nice to meet you." The shorter man greeted rather disdainfully "My name is Hiram and this is my husband Leroy. You can call us Mr Berry and Mr Berry."

"_Dad_!" Rachel hissed embarrassedly. She had expected her fathers to harbour some kind of animosity after all she had been put through at the hands of the cheerios but she didn't expect them to be quite so obvious about it.

"You on the other hand…" Hiram added as he beamed at Brittany "Can call me Hiram. It's very nice to meet you Brittany."

"Um…It's nice to meet you too." Brittany returned the smile, though she was somewhat confused.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and start to cook dinner." Hiram nodded at the guests before he walked out of the room, towards the kitchen.

Leroy coughed awkwardly "I apologise for my husband's behaviour. He's quite capable of holding grudges for an extremely long time, especially when the offender in question has wronged our daughter."

Quinn and Santana nodded numbly, slightly shocked by the short man's earlier hostility.

Leroy made to follow his husband out of the room to talk to him about proper hosting etiquette but he glanced over his shoulder on the way out "And Brittany? It's great to finally meet you."

"At least _you're_ popular." Santana mumbled towards Brittany.

"My Dads harbour a certain affection for Brittany since she is the only cheerio who has never felt the need to bully and belittle me." Rachel explained as she shot the blonde in question a warm smile "As I'm sure you can understand that affection does not stretch to either of you."

Quinn looked slightly apologetic while Santana merely shrugged as if the thought of Rachel's Dads hating her didn't bother her at all. The Latina was just about to suggest that they leave when Leroy called out from the kitchen.

"Rachel, will your friends be staying for dinner?"

A split second later he appeared at the door, donned in a kitchen apron "Brittany, you'll stay for dinner won't you? Hiram has yet to learn how to make food without making too much of it so we have plenty."

"Sorry Mr Berry…I'm kind of sick right now so I should probably be leaving." Brittany answered regretfully.

"Sick?" the man looked genuinely concerned as he stepped further into the room.

"Yeah." Brittany nodded innocently "Rachel says I'm moderately depressed."

Leroy blinked at the blonde before he turned to Rachel with a disapproving look. Santana looked like she wanted to strangle the diva and she clutched Brittany's hand the slightest bit tighter to prevent herself from doing so.

"Maybe another time." Leroy stated with a smile as he glanced back towards the blonde.

"We should get going too." Quinn said quietly "Thank you for your hospitality Mr Berry. I'm sorry if we disturbed your evening."

Leroy smiled at the girl's politeness "Of course you didn't."

"Do you need me to drive you home, Quinn?" Rachel asked, already looking around for her car keys. She had after all driven both Quinn and Brittany to her house so Quinn's car was still in the school car park.

Quinn shook her head "Santana can drive me."

"Um…Actually I can't." Santana spoke up sheepishly "My car is still at the school."

"What?" Quinn frowned in confusion "Then how did you get here?"

"It's…complicated."

"I can drive you all home if you want." Rachel offered "It's really no problem."

"If you're sure we're not bothering you…" Quinn said cautiously.

"It's no problem." Rachel repeated as she continued to look for her keys.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

"So here we are." Rachel murmured as she pulled up outside of the Fabray house. She had dropped Brittany and Santana off at the formers house a while ago so the only passenger remaining in the car was Quinn.

"Yeah…Home sweet home." Quinn muttered sarcastically as she stared up at the large house. There was a moment of silence before she glanced back at Rachel "Do you want to come in for a while? I could make you a coffee or something?"

Rachel hesitated for a moment before she nodded "Okay. I'll text my Dads to make sure they don't call the police when I don't immediately return."

Quinn nodded and got out of the car to be joined a moment later by a cautious Rachel.

"My Mom isn't home." Quinn assured her softly as she began to walk towards the house "She doesn't get back until tomorrow."

"Doesn't it get lonely?" Rachel asked curiously "Staying by yourself I mean."

Quinn shrugged "I guess…That's part of the reason I asked you to come in. I don't really feel like being alone right now. I was going to ask Brittany and Santana to stay the night but I don't think they would have said yes."

Rachel watched Quinn pull out her keys and unlock the front door "Why not?"

"Brittany is having nightmares." Quinn answered as they stepped into the warm house and she closed the door behind them "She keeps saying that she doesn't want to bother me by waking up in the middle of the night."

"And that…bothers you?" Rachel asked intuitively as she followed Quinn into the living room. The blonde proceeded to collapse onto the couch with a content sigh and Rachel wavered for a moment before sitting down next to her "That she's unintentionally shutting you out?"

Quinn cast a quick look at the brunette "Yeah. I mean I just want to help her and it seems the only person she wants right now is Santana. I'm supposed to be her best friend too but the only person she allows to stay with her at night is _Santana_ who may I add always ends up just as much of a mess as Brittany."

Rachel nodded, taking note of Quinn's obvious frustration "If it helps I imagine that Brittany has tried and failed to convince Santana to leave her alone for the night."

Quinn nodded slowly "Santana won't take no for an answer when it comes to Brittany's safety." She fell into contemplative silence for a moment, trying to organise her worried thoughts.

"You make it sound like Brittany is in some kind of danger." Rachel quietly observed.

Quinn stayed silent for a moment before quickly changing the subject. She had no idea about the nature of Brittany's situation so worrying Rachel would be rather pointless "So do you want that coffee?"

Rachel watched with a frown as Quinn stood up from the couch and walked out of the room. When the blonde disappeared from her sight, she too stood up and quickly followed her into the kitchen "Is there a reason for your change of subject?"

"Yes." Quinn answered, deciding that at least _partial_ honesty was the best option "Can we just not talk about it? I really don't know any more than you do."

Rachel was about to push the subject when she noticed Quinn's tired expression "Okay. But can I trust that you'll tell me when you know something more? I know that you and I are not exactly friends but Brittany is important to me and I would like to know if there was anything jeopardising her safety."

"Sure." Quinn nodded, grateful that Rachel hadn't pressed the subject. She opened the cupboard to her left and pulled out two cups "So you like her? Brittany, I mean?"

"I like her as a friend." Rachel answered carefully "I don't like her in a romantic sense and I'm dating Finn…though I have to admit that the kiss we shared was quite…something."

"Good." Quinn sighed in relief "Because wanting to date the person Santana is in love with? That really would get messy."

Rachel silently nodded as she watched as Quinn poured boiling water into the cups.

Quinn turned to open the fridge and sighed when she noticed how bare it was. She tentatively picked up the milk and checked the date on it before apologetically glancing back at Rachel "I don't have any soy milk or anything…"

"Black is fine." Rachel reassure with a small smile.

"Great." Quinn said as she pushed the fridge door closed and walked back to the bench where she proceeded to pour the milk into her cup. She carefully slid Rachel's coffee toward her.

"Thanks." Rachel murmured as she tentatively wrapped her hands around the steaming cup.

"So the kiss was 'something'?" Quinn asked, a hint of a teasing smile tugging at her lips "What does that mean?"

Rachel flushed and averted her eyes "It was quite nice. Very nice in fact. It was different from kissing boys but different in a good way…It's hard to explain but it was more than pleasant." She paused for a moment before quickly adding "Not that that means I'm gay. I'm comfortable with my sexuality."

Quinn shrugged "Brittany is a damn good kisser. Liking it doesn't mean much."

Rachel stared at Quinn for a moment, unsure as to how to take the statement "So you've…kissed Brittany too?"

"Sure." Quinn answered listlessly "I mean I've kissed both of them."

"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed, her eyes widening in realisation. Her surprise almost caused her to drop her coffee so she wisely set it down "So…You, Brittany and Santana engaged in…" she made a vaguely rude hand gesture.

"No!" Quinn blushed as she reached out to put a stop to the movements of Rachel's hands "God No! I mean we grew up together so with all of the games of truth and dare and spin the bottle being played at almost _every_ party we went to, it was sure to happen sometime."

"Oh right…Sorry." Rachel muttered though her gaze was still fixed to Quinn's hand atop her own.

Quinn followed her gaze and she stared at their clasped hands for a moment before she pulled her own away with a sigh.

"So…I asked Brittany to keep the kiss a secret." Rachel said in an attempt to quell the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them "She said she would for now."

"Don't count on it." Quinn smirked with a shake of her head "Brittany can't keep secrets."

Rachel groaned and dropped her head into her hands "Santana is going to _kill_ me."

Quinn laughed and casually patted the brunette's shoulder "I'll protect you if she tries to kill you."

Rachel looked up with a hopeful expression "Really?"

"Well…Yeah." Quinn faltered slightly when she realised exactly what she had said "I mean…she's my friend. I can't just _let_ her kill someone, can I?"

"I suppose not." Rachel murmured, looking vaguely disappointed.

Quinn glanced down at her coffee, mentally cursing herself.

**XxQRBSQRBSxX**

"You should eat something." Santana said as she placed a plate of toast in front of Brittany who had slumped into a seat at the kitchen table "It's good for you."

Brittany made a face at the cremated looking toast "I'm not hungry."

Santana sighed and sank into the seat closest to the blonde. Quinn had informed her just before they had gotten into the car that Brittany had said that she hadn't been eating much. Santana was mortified that she hadn't been paying enough attention to notice something so crucial and despite her exhaustion she had immediately set out to fix the problem. Unfortunately her culinary skills didn't extend very far and she was too tired to pay much attention to what she was cooking "Britt, come on…Please? You'll get sick if you don't eat something."

Brittany shrugged and glanced at the Latina.

"For me?" Santana pleaded softly "Please?"

Brittany sighed but she obediently picked up half a slice of the beyond burnt toast and began to nibble on the edge. The food made her feel slightly sick but she tried as hard as she could to ignore the feeling.

"Thank you." Santana sighed in relief before laying her head on her folded arms atop the table. One minute she was silently mulling Brittany's problems over in her head and the next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake.

"San, wake up." Brittany whispered softly "If you sleep like that your neck will get sore."

"Hmmm…" Santana mumbled sleepily. She suddenly wished that she had opted not to go through with her experience with the Doctor as her entire body felt like lead and she couldn't bring herself to move "It's okay."

"It's not." Brittany argued stubbornly "Come on…I'll get you to bed." She gently pulled Santana into a sitting position and looped the other girl's arms around her neck. She leaned down and scooped Santana's legs over her left arm, easily picking her up.

Santana instinctively tightened her grip as she felt herself being lifted "Too heavy." She mumbled as she unconsciously snuggling into Brittany's neck "You should put me down."

"You were the lightest girl on the cheerios." Brittany reminded her as she shifted to gain a better grip on the girl in her arms "And we've done this before."

"You said you wouldn't mention the cheerios thing again." Santana murmured softly.

Brittany shivered slightly as Santana's lips brushed against her neck with every word she spoke "Sorry."

Santana yawned as Brittany began to carry her out of the room "Did you eat your toast?"

"Yes."

"Are you lying?"

"No."

Santana nodded vaguely. Even though she was only half conscious she knew that Brittany would never lie to her _about_ lying.

"I ate half of it." Brittany elaborated as she began to climb the stairs. She frowned as she noticed her muscles were straining more than they usually did when she picked Santana up "It wasn't very nice."

"Sorry." Santana apologised breathily.

"I wasn't hungry anyway." Brittany stated, finally reaching the top of the stairs "I only ate it for you."

Santana made a sound of acknowledgement and unconsciously pressed a kiss to Brittany's neck. Brittany whimpered at the sensation but her grip didn't falter as she made her way down the hall.

"I miss you." Santana whispered against Brittany's neck.

Brittany found herself blinking back tears at the statement as she nudged her bedroom door open with her foot "I miss you too San." She walked over to the bed and hesitated for a moment before tentatively setting the girl in her arms down.

Santana instantly moved closer to the middle of the bed and she sighed contentedly as she felt Brittany remove her sock and pull the covers over her. There was a moment of silence before she spoke up tiredly "Are you getting in?"

Brittany hesitated briefly before she crawled over Santana and slipped under the covers on the other side of the bed.

Santana instinctively melted into the blonde's side and wrapped an arm around her abdomen "How are you so strong?" she whispered, her voice slightly hazy "I'm exhausted yet you still carried me up here." In the back of her mind, she was aware that she wasn't talking about Brittany's physical strength but rather her emotional strength. To have to carry around so many emotions seemed unbearable to Santana.

Brittany exhaled slowly "I'm not as strong as you think I am." She pressed her lips lightly against Santana's forehead, allowing them to linger for a moment before she pulled back.

"Makes two us…" Santana mumbled sleepily.

Long after Santana had fallen asleep Brittany lay awake, staring up at the shadows on the ceiling as she tried to ignore the dull ache that had appeared in her chest.

TBC


End file.
